7 things to know about the Brunswick Nuclear Plant

The Brunswick Nuclear Plant, located near Southport, provides power to Southeastern North Carolina.

Though the plant has been in operation for decades, many Brunswick County residents -- especially those who have recently moved to the area -- don't know the plant exists.

Here are seven things you should know about the Brunswick Nuclear Plant.

1. Environmental studies for the plant began in 1968.

The studies monitored the impact of the plant on Walden Creek and Snow's Marsh, adjacent to the plant's intake canal, as well as Mott's Bay and Alligator Creek, both located upriver. Construction on the plant did not begin until 1970.

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2. The plant has two boiling water reactors.

The first reactor -- unit 2 -- began operations in 1975. The second reactor -- unit 1 -- went online in 1977.

3. The Brunswick Nuclear Plant uses uranium as its fuel.

Each uranium pellet is less than one inch long and they are enclosed in metal rods that are 12.5-feet tall. Each rod contains about 350 pellets with 85 fuel rods in a fuel assembly and about 560 fuel assemblies inside each reactor's core.

4. Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point was considered when the plant was built.

According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines, each nuclear power plant is built for its specific site. In this case, the Brunswick Nuclear Plant was built to withstand the hurricanes, tornadoes the area experiences, and construction also factored in the possibility of an incident at Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point (MOTSU), one of the world's largest munitions depots, located just five miles away.

5. Both reactors are located in containment buildings.

The containment buildings each have 3-foot-thick concrete walls with a 3/4 inch thick steel liner. The reactor vessels are 44 feet tall and 14 feet in diameter, and they are constructed with 8 1/2 inch steel.

6. The plant uses water from the Cape Fear River for cooling.

Using a canal system that is nine miles long, the Brunswick Nuclear Plant circulates about 1 million gallons of water per minute.

7. The plant's station capacity is 1,870 megawatts.

According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a single megawatt of electricity produced by nuclear energy would power more than 750 homes. This means the Brunswick Nuclear Plant produces enough electricity to power more than 1.5 million homes.

Source: This information was taken from fact sheets provided by Duke Energy and displays inside the Brunswick Energy & Education Center at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Brunswick Nuclear Plant is located near Southport, NC