Prairie Island nuclear power plant 1
Gross capacity
566MW
Prairie Island nuclear power plant 1 is a pressurised water reactor unit at Prairie Island nuclear power plant in United States rated at 566 MW gross. It is operating. Commercial operation began 16 Dec 1973.
Specification
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Westinghouse 2-loopWH 2LP (DRYAMB) in the source |
| Size | Largeabove 300 MWe |
| Coolant | Light water |
| Moderator | Light water |
| Gross capacity | 566MW |
| Net capacity (reference) | 522MW |
| Net capacity (design) | 530MW |
| Thermal output | 1,677MWt |
| NSSS vendor | Westinghouse Electric Companyall vendors |
| Typical enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
Ownership & location
| Site | Prairie Island nuclear power plant |
|---|---|
| Unit | 1 |
| Country | United States |
| Owner | Xcel Energy Inc100% |
| Operator | Northern States Power |
| Coordinates | 44.6220, -92.6333 |
Live status
NRC daily report, unit key "Prairie Island 1"
Power level
…
loading
Last 90 days
Updated daily from the US reactor status feed. The NRC publishes a power
percentage only, with no reason for a reduction, so a unit at 0% may be refuelling, in a planned
outage or tripped. See outages.
Fuel chain for this unit
Fuel form
Uranium dioxide pellets in zirconium-alloy cladding
Enrichment
3–5% U-235
Who makes this assembly
- China National Nuclear Corporation PWR fuel assemblies
- ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas PWR and BWR fuel assemblies
- Framatome PWR fuel assemblies
- KEPCO Nuclear Fuel PWR fuel assemblies
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries PWR fuel assemblies
- Westinghouse Electric Company PWR fuel assemblies
Upstream
Enriched fuel means this unit sits downstream of five conversion plants and four enrichment operators holding 88% of world capacity between the top three.
Fabricator capability is recorded against reactor type and model line, not against named units,
utilities do not publish fuel contracts. See the fuel chain.
Timeline
- 25 Jun 1968Construction start
- 1 Dec 1973First criticality
- 4 Dec 1973Grid connection
- 16 Dec 1973Commercial operation
Other units at Prairie Island nuclear power plant
| Unit | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|
| Prairie Island nuclear power plant 2 | 560 |
Other WH 2LP (DRYAMB) units
6 units worldwide share this model designation.
| Unit | Country | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Point Beach nuclear power plant 1 | United States | 640 | |
| Point Beach nuclear power plant 2 | United States | 640 | |
| Prairie Island nuclear power plant 2 | United States | 560 | |
| Robert Emmett Ginna nuclear power plant | United States | 608 | |
| Kewaunee nuclear power plant | United States | Retired | 595 |
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06 · this unit last researched by GEM on 2024-05-29
- 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