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Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor nuclear power plant — United States of America

Retired nuclear power-station site in South Carolina, United States of America. Approximate location 34.2625, -81.3292.

NuclearSouth CarolinaUnited States of AmericaPrototypepressurized heavy water reactorRetired

Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor nuclear power plant is a retired nuclear power station in South Carolina, United States of America. Its current lifecycle status is “Retired” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. It ranks #4887 of 10,884 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 17.4% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

19MW installed capacity
3construction time (1960→1963)
1963commissioned (~63 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_nuc_carolinasvirginiatub_unite.

Data status

Known data

FacilityCarolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor nuclear power plant GEM-nuclear
CountryUnited States of America · South Carolina GEM-nuclear
Coordinates34.2625, -81.3292 GEM-nuclear
FuelNuclear GEM-nuclear
MW installed capacity19 MW GEM Global Nuclear Power Tracker September 2025 unit-status sum (retired); retired/historical capacity
Verification noteSum of 1 GNPT unit records in the selected retired historical scope. source-verified
OwnerCarolinas-Virginia Nuclear Power Association [100%] GEM-nuclear
Commissioned1963 GEM-nuclear
Technologypressurized heavy water reactor GEM-nuclear

Calculated from dataset

Capacity rank in country#4887 / 10884 calculated
Fuel-specific rank in country#168 / 176 calculated
Capacity vs country/fuel peers0.01× · 1,350 MW · n=176 calculated
Climate16.5°C · HDD 1,445 derived from coordinates
Environmental severityC3 · 36/100 derived from coordinates

Not available

GWh reported / yrNot available not in dataset
CO₂ emissionsnot applicable not applicable

Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.

Data provenance

Source of the capacity and fuel values:

capacity: GEM Global Nuclear Power Tracker September 2025 unit-status sum (retired); fuel: GEM GNPT

In context: how this plant compares

At 19 MW, Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor nuclear power plant is below the median nuclear plant in United States of America (1,350 MW). Technically it is described as pressurized heavy water reactor. Its lifecycle status is Retired; it no longer generates electricity. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.

Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #168 largest nuclear power plant of 176 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 176 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 270,415 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 34.2625, -81.3292 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor nuclear power plant?

Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor nuclear power plant was a nuclear-fired power station in South Carolina, United States of America and was retired.

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