Nuclear plant tour

Buster’s spot Holly Springs, North Carolina - Saturday, August 10, 2019
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind N at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 89%, sunny.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, sunny.

Shearon Harris Nuclear plant, operated by Duke Energy, tour. We were able to tour the plant today, a lot of walking and a lot of safety rules. In addition Security is tight there and always under review for improvement. This started a couple of weeks ago when my daughter (who works for a contractor there) offered to take my wife and I along with her son and husband. The tours are not available very often so we took advantage of the opportunity.

We had to fill out forms for a back round check that had to be completed before we could enter. We arrived early and attended a safety and information briefing before starting our tour. We were given hard hats safety glasses and ear plugs to use during the tour. We took an elevator to the top where the electric generator and steam turbine are located. From there we were taken into the control room after another short briefing, keeping quit and to not touch anything as the plan was on line (making money). From there we saw a lot of pumps and heat exchanger’s, that is where all the noise is needing ear plugs. We were able to see the “switch yard” and transformers for the electric power going out. There are three diesel generators for backup power to operate the plant. Just operating the water pumps requires a lot of electric and the water cooling of the nuclear reactor is a constant operation.

Cooling Tower & Switch Yard

There could have been more walking but we bailed and went to the administration building where my daughter works after checking out of the secure area and turning in our hard hats and safety glasses. Back in the car we toured around and then visited the cooling tower whet the steam is converted back to water.

Cooling Tower

wikipedia.org/wiki/Shearon_Harris_Nuclear_Power_Plant