Shearon Harris nuclear power plant
Shearon Harris nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in United States with 1 operating unit totalling 980 MW gross. The site has 6 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | PWR | WH 3LP (DRYAMB) | 980 | 1987 | |
| Unit 2 | Cancelled | PWR | - | 915 | - |
| Unit 2A | Cancelled | PWR | AP-1000 | 1,100 | - |
| Unit 3 | Cancelled | PWR | - | 900 | - |
| Unit 3A | Cancelled | PWR | AP-1000 | 1,100 | - |
| Unit 4 | Cancelled | PWR | - | 900 | - |
Shearon Harris nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Shearon Harris nuclear power plant is the 48th largest of 54 operating nuclear sites in the United States, holding 1% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 151st of 172 worldwide.
Its operating unit started up in 1987; the unit is 39.0 years old, younger than the median of 45.0 in the United States.
The one unit with both construction and grid dates on record took 9.0 years from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1980s is 7.3 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are H. B. Robinson nuclear power plant (175 km), McGuire nuclear power plant (182 km) and Catawba nuclear power plant (202 km).
The current net rating of Unit 1 differs from its design net capacity by +7.1% (900 MW at design, 964 MW now).
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1978 | 1987 | 9.0 | 7.3 (1980s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| H. B. Robinson nuclear power plant | United States | 175 km | 0.8 |
| McGuire nuclear power plant | United States | 182 km | 2.4 |
| Catawba nuclear power plant | United States | 202 km | 2.4 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Shearon Harris nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | North Carolina, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35.6334, -78.9556 |
| Elevation | about 85 mabove sea level |
| Setting | About 170 km from the sea |
| Region | Northern America |
| Units by status | Operating: 1 Cancelled: 5 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Progress Energy Carolinas Inc Carolina Power & Light Co Duke Energy Progress (NC) |
|---|---|
| Operators | Progress Energy |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data