Muskingum River Power Plant
Encyclopedia
Muskingum River Power Plant is a major coal-fired power station, owned and operated by American Electric Power
. It is located on the west bank of Muskingum River
, about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the town of Beverly, Ohio
, USA.
:
produced that year (122,984 tons of SO2 per year in total). With the installment of scrubbers at the Gallagher Station in 2008, it is likely to top the nation's list of the dirtiest power plants. Flue gas desulfurization
system for the newer and the most powerful unit 5 is planned for December, 2010.
(about twice their combined electrical output) into Muskingum River
.
supply truck was making its routine weekly delivery of H2 gas to the station's hydrogen system, when an explosion occurred at 9:20 a.m. Truck driver was killed in the accident, and ten other people were injured. Premature failure of the pressure-relief device's rupture disc was blamed.
Two civil trials in 2011, however, essentially rejected AEP's claims that rupture discs and a third party contractor were to blame. The juries determined that AEP had acted with "deliberate intent" toward its own employee, Drumand McLaughlin, and with "conscious disregard" for the rights of the truck driver, Lewis Timmons, who was killed. A total of almost $13,000,000.00 was assessed in damages as of August 29th, 2011, including punitive damages to punish AEP subsidiaries Ohio Power Company and American Electric Power Service Corporation for their misconduct in failing to maintain the hydrogen systems. The companies were also to be assessed attorney's fees.
American Electric Power
American Electric Power is a major investor-owner electric utility in various parts of the United States. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S...
. It is located on the west bank of Muskingum River
Muskingum River
The Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
, about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the town of Beverly, Ohio
Beverly, Ohio
Beverly is a village in Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,282 at the 2000 census...
, USA.
Units
Four out of five plant's units are among the oldest in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
:
| Unit | Nameplate capacity (MWe MWE MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expressionMWe may refer to:*Megawatt electrical... ) |
Commissioned | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 219.6 | 1953 | |
| 2 | 219.6 | 1954 | |
| 3 | 237.5 | 1957 | |
| 4 | 237.5 | 1958 | |
| 5 | 615.2 | 1968 | Supercritical unit, uses closed-loop water cooling via a cooling tower Cooling tower Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely... |
Sulphur dioxide emissions
As of 2007, Muskingum River was the second most-polluting major power station in the country in terms of sulphur dioxide (SO2) gas emission rate: it discharged 32.78 pounds (14.9 kg) of SO2 for each MWh of electric powerElectric power
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
produced that year (122,984 tons of SO2 per year in total). With the installment of scrubbers at the Gallagher Station in 2008, it is likely to top the nation's list of the dirtiest power plants. Flue gas desulfurization
Flue gas desulfurization
Sulfur dioxide is one of the elements forming acid rain. Tall flue-gas stacks disperse emissions by diluting the pollutants in ambient air and transporting them to other regions....
system for the newer and the most powerful unit 5 is planned for December, 2010.
Waste heat
Units 1–4 discharge their waste heatWaste heat
Waste heat sometimes called Secondary heat or Low-grade heat refers to heat produced by machines, electrical equipment and industrial processes for which no useful application is found. Energy is often produced by a heat engine, running on a source of high-temperature heat...
(about twice their combined electrical output) into Muskingum River
Muskingum River
The Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
.
2007 hydrogen explosion
On January 8, 2007, a hydrogenHydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
supply truck was making its routine weekly delivery of H2 gas to the station's hydrogen system, when an explosion occurred at 9:20 a.m. Truck driver was killed in the accident, and ten other people were injured. Premature failure of the pressure-relief device's rupture disc was blamed.
Two civil trials in 2011, however, essentially rejected AEP's claims that rupture discs and a third party contractor were to blame. The juries determined that AEP had acted with "deliberate intent" toward its own employee, Drumand McLaughlin, and with "conscious disregard" for the rights of the truck driver, Lewis Timmons, who was killed. A total of almost $13,000,000.00 was assessed in damages as of August 29th, 2011, including punitive damages to punish AEP subsidiaries Ohio Power Company and American Electric Power Service Corporation for their misconduct in failing to maintain the hydrogen systems. The companies were also to be assessed attorney's fees.