Surry nuclear power station: 25th anniversary

Virginia Power is one of the ten biggest electricity utilities in the United States of America. In 1972, the Surry-1 nuclear generating unit, equipped with an 850 MWe pressurized water reactor from Westinghouse, was accepted into commercial operation. Unit-2 followed in 1973. The North Anna plant is equipped with two 950 MWe PWR commissioned in 1978 and 1980, respectively. The four units together supply roughly one third of the electric power of the grid system in Virginia. They convert nuclear energy into electric power in an economic way: capacity utilization averaged over five years amounted to 90%, and the generating costs were 1.2 cents per kilowatthour. In 1996, the operator began to make use of the experience accumulated in running his plants when backfitting the three generating units on the Millstone site, which are currently out of operation. An agreement on cooperation to this effect was signed by the two utilities, Virginia Power and Northeast Nuclear Energy Company. As a consequence of deregulation of the US electricity market it may be economically preferable to buy electric power instead of generating it in-house. (orig.)