Virgil C Summer nuclear power plant
Virgil C Summer nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in United States with 1 operating unit totalling 1,006 MW gross. The site has 3 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | PWR | WH 3LP (DRYAMB) | 1,006 | 1984 | |
| Unit 2 | Mothballed | PWR | AP-1000 | 1,117 | - |
| Unit 3 | Mothballed | PWR | AP-1000 | 1,117 | - |
Virgil C Summer nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Virgil C Summer nuclear power plant is the 47th largest of 54 operating nuclear sites in the United States, holding 1% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 148th of 172 worldwide.
Its operating unit started up in 1984; the unit is 42.0 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 9.7 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 Catawba nuclear power plant (87 km), H. B. Robinson nuclear power plant (107 km) and McGuire nuclear power plant (131 km).
The current net rating of Unit 1 differs from its design net capacity by +8.1% (900 MW at design, 973 MW now).
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1973 | 1982 | 9.7 | 7.3 (1980s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catawba nuclear power plant | United States | 87 km | 2.4 |
| H. B. Robinson nuclear power plant | United States | 107 km | 0.8 |
| McGuire nuclear power plant | United States | 131 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 Virgil C Summer 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 | South Carolina, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34.2983, -81.3153 |
| Elevation | about 145 mabove sea level |
| Setting | About 200 km from the sea |
| Region | Northern America |
| Units by status | Operating: 1 Mothballed: 2 |
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 | South Carolina Electric & Gas Co |
|---|---|
| Operators | South Carolina Electric & Gas |
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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