Kingston Fossil Plant

Kingston Fossil Plant

Kingston Fossil Plant, commonly known as Kingston Steam Plant, is a Tennessee Valley Authority 1.7-GW coal-burning power plant located in Roane County, just outside Kingston, Tennessee on the shore of Watts Bar Lake.

Begun in 1951, it was the largest coal-fired power plant in the world when completed in 1955.[1] It was built primarily to provide electricity for the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory.[2] The plant is a popular site for birdwatchers, as many waterfowl come to the settling and treatment ponds nearby.[3]

Operations

The plant has nine generating units: units 1–4, rated at 175 MWe each (launched into service in 1954), and units 5–9, rated at 200 MWe each (launched in 1955).[4] It produces about ten billion kilowatt hours of electricity from some five million tons of coal each year. All nine generating units are equipped with cold-side selective catalytic reduction systems to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions that contribute to the formation of ozone.[1][5]

In 1976, its original stacks were taken out of service (though left standing) and replaced by a pair of 1,000-foot (300 m) tall chimneys, one for units 1–5 and one for units 6–9.[6]

2008 spill

In December 2008, an impoundment at the plant failed, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of coal fly ash slurry that covered up to 300 acres (1.2 km2) of the surrounding land, damaging homes and flowing into nearby waterways such as the Emory River and Clinch River, tributaries of the Tennessee River. This was the largest accidental release of coal fly ash in the United States.

EPA compliance agreement

On April 14, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at 11 of its coal-fired plants in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee.[7] Under the terms of the agreement, the entire Kingston plant will be affected:[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant page". Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  2. ↑ Tennessee Valley Authority Office of Engineering Design and Construction, The Kingston Steam Plant: A Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, Costs, and First Power Operations (Tennessee Valley Authority Technical Report no. 34, 1965), pp. 1-12.
  3. ↑ Charles P. Nicholson and Ron Hoff, Birding at Kingston Steam Plant, Tennessee Ornithological Society, September 2006
  4. ↑ "Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2006" (Excel). Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  5. ↑ Donald Borio and Robert Babb, Technical and Economic Considerations in Hot or Cold Placement of SCR Systems for Utility Boilers, ICAC Forum '02
  6. ↑ "Kingston Power Plant entry at skyscraperpage.com".
  7. ↑ Tennessee Valley Authority Clean Air Act Settlement
  8. ↑ Federal Facilities Compliance Agreement Between EPA and TVA

External links

Coordinates: 35°53′54″N 84°31′08″W / 35.89833°N 84.51889°W / 35.89833; -84.51889

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