Point Beach Nuclear Plant


Point Beach Nuclear Plant is a nuclear power plant located on Lake Michigan in the town of Two Creeks, Wisconsin, United States. The plant was built by Wisconsin Electric Power Company, and previously operated by the Nuclear Management Company. The plant is currently owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, of Juno Beach, Florida.
The plant is composed of two, two-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactors. There is also a visitors' center located just south of the administration building.
Construction for Unit 1 began in 1966 and it was placed into commercial operation in December 1970. Unit 2 was placed into commercial operation in September 1972. The plant was built for a total cost of $114.9 million.
The entire site covers 1,050 acres; approximately 70 acres are used for the nuclear power plant and transmission yard infrastructure and the remaining land used for agriculture or solar arrays.
WWW Official Site

History

The original letter of intent to purchase a single 454 megawatt nuclear unit from Westinghouse Electric Company for a fixed-price was issued by Wisconsin Electric and Wisconsin Michigan Power Company on December 30, 1965. The right was reserved to order a second, duplicate unit under the same terms. In May, 1966, the announcement was made that the plant would be built on a 1,200-acre site in the town of Two Creeks.
On November 28, 1966, following Public Service Commission of Wisconsin endorsement and a brief public hearing, Alfred Gruhl, Glenn Reed, and Sol Burstein turned the first symbolic spades of dirt for the official ground-breaking. In May, 1967, the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, issued the official construction permit for Point Beach Unit 1. The Unit 2 construction permit was issued approximately a year later.
On October 5, 1970, the AEC issued its full-term, full-power Operating License for Point Beach Unit 1. The loading fuel into the reactor commenced almost immediately. On November 2, 1970, operators achieved initial criticality, with the nuclear-powered electricity being produced four days later, on November 6. Full commercial service was reached on December 21, 1970, just 49 months from the initial groundbreaking ceremony. After delays from nuclear power opponents, Unit 2 was granted a full-term, full-power operating license on March 8, 1973, almost years behind the original schedule.
Due to steam generator tube degradation and failures caused by intergranular stress corrosion cracking, Unit 1 was operated at approximately 75-80% of full power from December 1979 until October 1983, when replacement steam generators were installed. The Unit 2 steam generators were replaced in 1996–1997.
In 2005, the NRC approved the initial license renewal application for the Point Beach plant, extending the operating license from forty years to sixty. in 2011, the NRC approved a 17% increase in power output from both units. This entailed significant upgrades to several plant systems and components, including safety-related pumps and valves, as well as the turbine-generator sets.
NextEra Energy Resources purchased the plant from Wisconsin Electric Power Company in October 2007. As part of the sale, We Energies agreed to repurchase all of the power produced by the plant for at least 20 years. In 2000–2007 the plant was managed by the Nuclear Management Company.
Owners submitted applications for 20 year for both units to the NRC in November 2020. The decision announcement was expected in July 2022, however this was delayed as the NRC required additional environmental impact evaluation be completed. A NRC public meeting was held on to solicit public comments on the scope of the environmental review.
Both units were granted subsequent license extensions on September 29, 2025, allowing the plant to operate until the early 2050s.
The plant is interconnected to the grid by four 345 kV lines. One leaves the area to the northwest connecting to the We Energies North Appleton substation. Another interconnects with the now-closed Kewaunee Nuclear Generating Station located a short distance north of Point Beach. The remaining 345 kV lines exit towards Milwaukee.

Electricity production

Point Beach generated 10,147 GWh in 2024, just under 16% of all electricity produced in Wisconsin, comprising 58% of all low-carbon energy generated.
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
2001747,957634,093750,906433,802562,905693,537728,365707,943569,003742,015734,847739,6958,045,068
2002751,028624,538753,521505,585574,254730,869746,848751,595520,408532,423734,354754,6567,980,079
2003753,611689,821765,308682,667743,000735,053587,460755,886690,771405,146479,990767,6238,056,336
2004768,940714,409760,799395,417323,118620,125759,345763,343738,197734,412668,786767,0768,013,967
2005766,668687,003765,872379,312378,941366,707588,370753,784646,520384,587436,960718,9796,873,703
2006767,529692,841761,705744,257763,705736,477763,706745,747731,483556,789527,817768,3608,560,416
2007765,914694,126765,807370,255668,624576,726758,404747,943656,843764,043750,088765,7408,284,513
2008580,167667,760770,034426,997597,286738,617759,633741,942728,096427,927566,303762,4537,767,215
2009763,248691,021765,343742,080696,917736,501757,545758,499714,270543,595327,645671,1698,167,833
2010764,991687,983380,308689,603767,038633,399699,236746,163742,782764,896749,905664,3818,290,685
2011769,544694,377381,450367,461377,870444,345825,187813,999795,349469,283434,287591,8746,965,026
2012885,774829,858881,358804,487895,831817,735823,428818,423830,321888,894430,848876,7469,783,703
2013888,923803,648686,951577,038892,324865,249889,843849,959855,549894,609866,060871,5629,941,715
2014894,014807,255647,855551,744878,772862,226892,854854,574863,958484,812846,101862,9319,447,096
2015894,261807,599889,908865,194894,308862,785890,823886,946848,182471,374826,112870,69110,008,183
2016896,413838,689599,550771,742895,263862,524890,714879,818859,221891,601869,130896,72910,151,394
2017896,822809,449680,478604,968899,032869,363884,636880,360848,354522,531852,038900,9489,648,979
2018900,095811,599897,070867,179897,537864,881892,088883,172851,052565,516873,212825,72110,129,122
2019891,565799,500754,943569,831858,658867,739896,065858,088866,670896,614873,465897,16710,030,305
2020896,579838,452621,646776,698899,562868,122887,222887,469863,889490,510844,423896,7619,771,333
2021894,739802,967892,180852,662898,669865,696876,100822,904828,038532,678805,580897,9779,970,190
2022896,422809,933782,184534,981897,835868,658891,034880,963852,915893,605871,077897,41110,077,018
2023896,138800,625569,821787,181897,143857,775883,965878,340847,220521,677845,414897,4689,682,767
2024894,969836,930896,880868,750894,629863,266880,794873,017829,988569,119841,246897,28310,146,871
2025894,253807,587729,358708,508895,534865,220882,860878,398856,900890,951869,106--

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of, concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about, concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.
The 2010 U.S. population within of Point Beach was 19,975, a decrease of 6.7 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 777,556, an increase of 10.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Green Bay.

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Point Beach was 1 in 90,909, according to an NRC study published in August 2010. This was tied for 62 in a list of 104 with #1 being most at risk.