Kingston Fossil Plant

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Kingston Fossil Plant

Kingston Fossil Plant, commonly known as Kingston Steam Plant, is a Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, Flood, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression....
1.7-GW coal

Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
-burning power plant located at in Kingston, Tennessee

Kingston, Tennessee

Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, Tennessee, United States, and is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake. Kingston, with a population of 5,264 at the United States Census 2000, is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area....
on the shore of Watts Bar Lake

Watts Bar Lake

Watts Bar Lake is a reservoir on the Tennessee River created by Watts Bar Dam as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority system.Geography...
.

Begun in 1951, it was the largest coal-fired power plant in the world when completed in 1955. It was built primarily to provide electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
to atomic energy

Atomic energy

Atomic energy is energy produced by atoms.*Nuclear energy, the energy resulting of potential difference of the nuclear force*Nuclear reaction, a process in which two nuclei or nuclear particles collide, to produce different products than the initial products; see also nuclear fission and nuclear fusion....
installations at nearby Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge is an incorporated city in Anderson County, Tennessee and Roane County, Tennessee Counties in East Tennessee Tennessee, United States, about 25 miles northwest of Knoxville, Tennessee....
. The plant is a popular site for birdwatchers

Birdwatching

Birdwatching or birding is the observation and study of birds with the naked eye or through a visual enhancement device like binoculars....
, as many waterfowl come to the settling and treatment ponds nearby.

plant has nine generating units: units 1–4, rated at 175 MWe

MWE

MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expression...
each (launched in 1955).

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Encyclopedia

Kingston Fossil Plant, commonly known as Kingston Steam Plant, is a Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

Coal

Kingston, Tennessee

Watts Bar Lake

Electricity

Atomic energy

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Birdwatching

Operations

The plant has nine generating units: units 1–4, rated at 175 MWe

MWE

MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expression...
each (launched in 1955). It produces about ten billion kilowatt hours of electricity from some five million tons of coal each year. All nine generating units are equipped with cold-side selective catalytic reduction

Selective catalytic reduction

Selective catalytic reduction is a means of converting nitrogen oxide, also referred to as NOx with the aid of a catalyst into nitrogen, , and water, ....
systems to reduce nitrogen oxide

Nitrogen oxide

The term nitrogen oxide typically refers to any binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or to a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide , nitrogen oxide...
emissions that contribute to the formation of ozone

Ozone

Ozone or trioxygen is a triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic O2....
.

In 1976, its original stacks were taken out of service (though left standing) and replaced by a pair of 305-meter-tall chimneys, one for units 1–5 and one for units 6–9.

2008 spill

In December 2008, an impoundment at the plant failed, releasing 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash

Fly ash

Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured from the chimneys of Fossil fuel power plant, and is one of two types of ash that jointly are known as coal ash; the other, bottom ash, is removed from the bottom of coal furnaces....
slurry that covered up to 300 acres of the surrounding land, damaging homes and flowing into nearby waterways such as the Emory River

Emory River

The Emory River is a stream draining a portion of Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau....
and Clinch River

Clinch River

The Clinch River rises in Southwest Virginia near Tazewell, VA and flows southwest through the Great Appalachian Valley, gathering various tributary including the Powell River before joining the Tennessee River in East Tennessee....
, tributaries of the Tennessee River. This was the largest accidental release of coal fly ash in the United States.

External links

, Knoxville News Sentinel
Knoxville News Sentinel

The Knoxville News Sentinel is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA covering general news. The newspaper is owned by E.W. Scripps Company....