Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station

Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located in Lower Alloways Creek Township, Salem County, New Jersey, United States. It sits on an artificial island alongside the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. The station is owned and operated by PSEG Nuclear LLC, a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group. It has a single unit, a boiling water reactor (BWR) built by General Electric. Originally planned for two units, the second unit was canceled in 1981. Hope Creek has a generating capacity of 1,268 megawatts electric (MWe). The plant began operation on July 25, 1986, with an initial license to run until 2026. In 2009, PSEG applied for a 20-year license extension, which was granted in 2011, allowing operation until 2046. Together with the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, the Salem–Hope Creek complex produces 3,572 megawatts, making it the largest nuclear power facility in the Eastern United States and the fourth largest in the country. Hope Creek, along with the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, produces approximately 40% of New Jersey’s electricity and 85% of its carbon-free electricity, making it an important part of the state’s energy infrastructure. Hope Creek is one of three licensed nuclear power reactors in New Jersey. The others are the two units at the adjacent Salem plant. In 2021, nuclear plants generated 45% of the electricity in the state. In 2019, New Jersey began providing the state's nuclear plants Zero-Emission Certificates worth $300 million a year to keep them in service. The subsidy was ended in 2024, effective June 1, 2025, as the Inflation Reduction Act provides alternative tax credits to support clean energy. Plant features Hope Creek is a boiling water reactor (BWR) unlike its neighbors at the nearby Salem Nuclear Plant which are pressurized water reactors (PWR). Hope Creek's reactor is used to produce electricity. The plant's huge natural-draft cooling tower can be seen from many miles away in both Delaware and New Jersey and as far west as Elk Neck Peninsula in Maryland. The cooling tower can be seen from the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the bridges over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. This cooling tower serves only Hope Creek's single reactor. The neighboring Salem units utilize once-through cooling with no cooling tower. A unique feature of Hope Creek is its cylindrical reactor building complete with a dome which makes it appear similar to a pressurized water reactor containment building which is not typical of boiling water reactors. This similarity is limited to appearance. Like other BWRs, the actual containment vessel for the reactor is a separate drywell/torus structure enclosed within the reactor building, but structurally separate. The outer reactor building serves as secondary containment and houses many of the reactor's safety systems. Controversies and safety concerns On October 10, 2004, the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station experienced a steam leak that led to a shutdown. Operators reported issues with fluctuating reactor pressure, changing water levels, and problems with the high-pressure coolant injection system, a key safety component. Following the incident, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) placed the plant under increased oversight. The 2004 shutdown raised renewed concerns about safety practices and management at Hope Creek and the neighboring Salem Nuclear Power Plant. Former employees and watchdog groups criticized plant management for alleged maintenance delays and for discouraging the reporting of safety concerns. Delaware senators, including then-Senator Joe Biden, contacted the NRC to express concern over ongoing issues with management and safety culture, similar to problems reported in earlier decades. In response, the NRC placed Hope Creek and Salem under special oversight, citing maintenance backlogs, equipment problems, and a workplace environment that discouraged reporting safety issues. Investigations identified equipment and performance deficiencies, leading to updates in employee training and operational procedures. Surrounding population The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity. The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Hope Creek was 53,811, an increase of 53.3 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 5,523,010, an increase of 7.5 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles: New Jersey Camden (39 mi/63 km) Vineland (27 mi/44 km) Pennsville (12 mi/20 km) Salem (County Capital) (8 mi/13 km) Delaware Dover (Capital) (21 mi/34 km) Wilmington (19 mi/31 km) Pennsylvania Philadelphia (43 mi/70 km) Electricity production 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 Hope Creek was 1 in 357,143, according to an NRC study published in August 2010. Gallery References External links Media related to Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station at Wikimedia Commons DoE page