NUCLEAR ENERGY

ICYMI: Palo Verde nuclear plant conducts annual test today

Sirens will be activated at noon, 12:30 p.m.

Posted 12/2/20

Southwest Valley residents who hear sirens from the Palo Verde Generating Station in Wintersburg today, Dec. 2, need not worry. It's just the nuclear power plant's annual test.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe.

For $5.99, less than 20 cents a day, subscribers will receive unlimited access to the website, including access to our Daily Independent e-edition, which features Arizona-specific journalism and items you can’t find in our community print products, such as weather reports, comics, crossword puzzles, advice columns and so much more six days a week.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
NUCLEAR ENERGY

ICYMI: Palo Verde nuclear plant conducts annual test today

Sirens will be activated at noon, 12:30 p.m.

Posted

Southwest Valley residents who hear sirens from the Palo Verde Generating Station in Wintersburg today, Dec. 2, need not worry. It's just the nuclear power plant's annual test.

Palo Verde Emergency Preparedness Department, state of Arizona and Maricopa County Emergency Management officials will activate the 70 sirens within a 10-mile area surrounding the facility at approximately noon and 12:30 p.m. Dec. 2.

The Arizona Public Service facility, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free electricity, is 38 miles from Goodyear and Litchfield Park.

READ: Palo Verde nuclear plant is cutting its wastewater use

It generates 32 million megawatt-hours annually, enough power for more than 4 million people, according to APS’s website, aps.com.

Some facts about the generating station:

  • Palo Verde is the only nuclear plant in the U.S. not located on a body of water; every year it recycles more than 20 billion gallons of wastewater from surrounding municipalities to cool the plant.
  • The plant employs 2,500 people full-time; one in three are veterans. An additional 900 to 1,000 contractors come on board twice a year for month-long, planned refueling and maintenance.
  • The generating station purchases $130 million in products and services from more than 1,200 Arizona businesses annually.
  • Palo Verde employees donate about $1 million annually to local charities.

For more information about the plant, visitaps.com/en/About/Our-Company/Clean-Energy/Nuclear-generation.

Comments