- The plant has helped meet New Jersey’s energy needs for nearly half a century
- It has done this reliably and cleanly
- We owe our thanks to the men and women who have operated it so well
When Oyster Creek retires on Sept. 17, its electricity production since commercial operation began in December 1969, will be approximately 193 terawatt-hours—that is, enough electricity to run the state of New Jersey for more than two and a half years.
The plant has been producing more than 5 million megawatt-hours a year of emissions-free electricity in recent years. In comparison, total hydro, wind, solar (central and rooftop), geothermal and biomass production in New Jersey in 2017 was 3.8 million megawatt-hours.
In fact, in 2017 Oyster Creek made more electricity than all the wind farms in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland combined.
When construction began on the plant, in 1965, using an innovative design from General Electric, it was intended to displace oil, which then dominated generation on the East Coast, and coal. The diversity that the plant brought to the state’s energy base helped the region get through the 1973-1974 Arab Oil Embargo, and then the oil price spike that followed the Iranian revolution in 1979, and other supply interruptions. As the generating system evolved, Oyster Creek later displaced coal, and then natural gas.
It would have taken 23 billion tons of coal, or 112 billion barrels of oil or 6.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, to make that much electricity.
If the plant displaced only coal, it would have saved about 210 million tons of carbon dioxide, and about 55 percent of that amount if it had displaced all natural gas. In comparison, the average car, light truck or SUV emits over five tons a year. New Jersey has about 2.8 million vehicles.
The actual mix of fuels displaced over the last 49 years is difficult to calculate with precision, but to produce 210 million tons of carbon dioxide would require running today’s New Jersey automobile fleet for more than 14 years. If the fuel displaced were all natural gas, it’s still more than six years.
This analysis ignores the savings in emissions that produce smog, soot and acid rain, which were also substantial. And Oyster Creek kept houses warm in winter and cool in summer, it ran supermarkets and water supply systems, schools and hospitals. It did it all while guarding public safety as well as health. And now, as Exelon retires the plant, public safety will be protected as it is defueled and decommissioned.
Oyster Creek has been an asset for the prosperity and security of New Jersey and for the global environment since the day it opened.