Arkansas Nuclear One

Arkansas Nuclear One is a two-unit pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant located on Lake Dardanelle just outside Russellville, Arkansas. It is the only nuclear power plant in Arkansas.It is owned by Entergy Arkansas and operated by Entergy Nuclear.UnitsUnit OneUnit One has a generating capacity of 846 MW of electricity, and came online on May 21, 1974. It is licensed to operate through May 20, 2034. Its nuclear reactor was supplied by Babcock & Wilcox.Unit TwoUnit Two has a generating capacity of 930 MW of electricity, and came online on September 1, 1978. It is licensed to operate through July 18, 2038. Its nuclear reactor was supplied by Combustion Engineering. Unit two is the only one that uses a cooling tower; Unit One releases heat into Lake Dardanelle.Surrounding populationThe 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 Arkansas Nuclear was 44,139, an increase of 17.2 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 308,219, an increase of 13.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Russellville (6 miles to city center).