Guided Tour
(Due to heightened security, pictures were not allowed to be taken
I guess the terrorists got what they wanted)
In the 1960's, as Baltimore Gas and Electric Company pondered how to meet the growing demand for electricity, a new technology was emerging. That new technology was nuclear power. It was safer for the environment and less expensive than traditional fuels.
Operating Calvert Cliffs has kept the air clean, providing a balance for fossil fuels and the effects they have on air quality and global warming.
Since Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant was built, a little over 35 years ago, it has reliably supplied nearly half of BGE customers' electricity.
The Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant
sits on a 2,300-acre tract of Chesapeake Bay shoreline.
Of that, only 380 acres are used for
the plant. The rest provides a protected habitat where native plants
and animals thrive. Thirty years of studies confirm that Calvert
Cliffs has also been a good neighbor to the Chesapeake Bay.
Even before Calvert Cliffs started operating,
the company and environmental agencies began conducting extensive environmental
monitoring around the site.
Biologists and other scientists
have studied the plants, animals, water, sediments, and air around Calvert
Cliffs. These studies have shown that the plant’s operation is harmless
to the environment. They’ve also gathered lots of data that helps scientists
better understand the Bay and its surroundings.
The people at Calvert Cliffs have worked
to preserve and enhance the environment around them. Thousands of acres
around the plant have been set aside as wildlife habitat – a place where
owls, deer, endangered tiger beetles, heron, osprey, and even bald eagles
live without fear of human intrusion.
Generating electricity with
nuclear energy
As illustrated in the diagram below,
steam spins a turbine; the turbine spins a generator filled with magnets
and coils of wire, and electricityis generated. The main difference
between nuclear and fossil-fueled power plants is the kind of fuel used
to boil the water to create the steam.
Managing nuclear waste
Much nuclear waste is ordinary
trash, tools, protective clothing, wiping cloths, and disposable items
that have been contaminated with small amounts of radioactive dust or particles.
We ship these, along with filters and other similar materials considered
low-level wastes, to a licensed disposal facility.
Another by-product is used nuclear fuel. After making electricity for four to six years, used nuclear fuel assemblies are removed from the reactor and placed in a specially designed spent fuel pool inside the plant. There water cools the fuel and acts as a radiation shield. These cooling pools are illustrated in the above diagram.
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plants and their customers fund DOE's spent-fuel disposal program through fees collected in electric rates.
Safety is, and always will be, the nuclear
power plant's number one priority.
Careful plant design, training, oversight, experience, and commitment to excellence makes the plant confident Calvert Cliffs will always operate safely.
BACK
TO CALVERT CLIFFS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AND GEOLOGY WALKING TOUR OF BALTIMORE
