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Data for 2010  |  Release Date: April 26, 2012  |  Next Release: February 2013  |   full report

Massachusetts Nuclear Profile 2010 Massachusetts profile

Massachusetts total electric power industry, summer capacity and net generation, by energy source, 2010  
Primary energy source Summer capacity
(mw)
Share of State total
(percent)
Net generation
(thousand mwh)
Share of State total
(percent)
Nuclear 685 5.0 5,918 13.8
Coal 1,669 12.2 8,306 19.4
Hydro and Pumped Storage 1,942 14.2 659 1.5
Natural Gas 6,063 44.3 25,582 59.8
Other 1 3 * 771 1.8
Other Renewable1 304 2.2 1,274 3.0
Petroleum 3,031 22.1 296 0.7
Total 13,697 100.0 42,805 100.0
1Municipal Solid Waste net generation is allocated according to the biogenic and non-biogenic components of the fuel; however, all Municipal Solid Waste summer capacity is classified as Renewable.
* = Absolute percentage less than 0.05.
Notes: Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding.
Other: Blast furnace gas, propane gas, other manufactured and waste gases derived from fossil fuels, non-biogenic municipal solid waste, batteries, chemicals, hydrogen, pitch, purchased steam, sulfur, tire-derived fuel, and miscellaneous technologies.
Other Renewable: Wood, black liquor, other wood waste, biogenic municipal solid waste, landfill gas, sludge waste, agriculture byproducts, other biomass, geothermal, solar thermal, photovoltaic energy, and wind.
Sources: Form EIA-860, "Annual Electric Generator Report," and Form EIA-923, "Power Plant Operations Report."

Massachusetts nuclear power plants, summer capacity and net generation, 2010  
Plant name/total reactors Summer capacity
(mw)
Net generation
(thousand mwh)
Share of State nuclear
net generation (percent)
Owner
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
Unit 1
685 5,918 100.0 Entergy Nuclear Generation Co
1 Plant
1 Reactor
685 5,918 100.0  
Note: Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding.
Source: Form EIA-860, "Annual Electric Generator Report," and Form EIA-923, "Power Plant Operations Report."

Plants in State

Piligrim Nuclear Plant 
Unit Summer capacity
(nw)
Net generation
(thousand mwh)
Summer capacity factor (percent) Type Commercial operation date License expiration date
1 685 5,918 98.7 BWR 12/1/1972 6/8/2012
  685 5,918 98.7      
Data for 2010
BWR = Boiling Water Reactor.
Note: Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding.
Source: Form EIA-860, "Annual Electric Generator Report," and Form EIA-923, "Power Plant Operations Report."

Operator: Entergy Nuclear Generation Company

Location and Service Territory: Pilgrim is located on a 1,600-acre site in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Construction Cost: $462.25 million (2007 USD)2

Reactor Descriptions: Pilgrim has a single General Electric Type 3 boiling water reactor that uses low-enriched uranium dioxide with maximum enrichments of 4.6 percent by weight uranium 235 and fuel burnup levels of 48,000 megawatt-days per metric ton uranium.

Cooling System: Pilgrim reactor uses a once-through cooling system that draws from the Atlantic Ocean.


2Nuclear Power Plant Construction Activity, DOE/EIA-0473(86), Energy Information Administration, 1986, pp 16-17, Table 5. Adjusted to 2007 Dollars using Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index.

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