Plant Farley

The Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, located near Dothan in southeast Alabama, is owned by Alabama Power and operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company. It is one of three nuclear facilities in the Southern electric system.

Construction of the plant began in 1970. Unit 1 achieved commercial operation in December 1977. Unit 2 began commercial operation in July 1981. The total cost of the plant was about $1.57 billion.

Each unit is capable of generating 888 megawatts (mw) for a total capacity of 1,776 mw. The plant is powered by Westinghouse pressurized water reactors.

The containment building, which houses the reactor, the reactor coolant system and other nuclear-related components, is constructed of reinforced concrete and carbon steel.

Since commercial operation began in 1977, Plant Farley has generated more than 200 billion kilowatts of electricity. That's enough generation to supply every Alabama residential customer with electricity for 14 years.

Plant Farley replaced Unit 1's steam generators during its Spring 2000 outage and Unit 2's steam generators during its Spring 2001 outage.

News about the plant

When Farley Unit 1 came offline to begin its outage in October 2001, it set a new plant record of 495 days of continuous operation. At the time, this was the fifth longest run by a Westinghouse domestic 3-loop reactor.
Plant Farley's Unit 2 established a new net generation record in 2000 as it generated 7,362,998 megawatt-hours (Mwh) of electricity, a unit and plant record. The previous record was 7,281,390 Mwh, set by Unit 2 in 1997.
In October 2000, Plant Farley was awarded the inaugural Industry Partnership Award from the Alabama Science Teachers Association. The Association honored Plant Farley for its Teacher in Residence Program, Certified Nuclear Science Educator workshops, and for its overall support of science.
In March 2000, Plant Farley employees reached a new safety milestone of 7 million work hours without a lost-time injury or illness, a feat never before accomplished by an Alabama Power-owned generating site.
In 1999, Plant Farley set plant records for lowest radiation exposure in a single year and single outage. Man-rem for 1999 was 190.463 rem, beating the previous record of 231.6 rem set in 1996. Unit 2's fall outage achieved the plant's lowest refueling outage man-rem record with 159.9 man-rem, beating the previous best of 167 man-rem set in 1982.
In Oct. 1999, the Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Council again recognized Plant Farley for its wildlife and land management efforts. The award recognizes Farley for enhancing 1,300 acres of land for wildlife habitat on its 1,850-acre site. Plant Farley was originally certified through the program in 1992.
In 2000 Plant Farley supplied 20 percent of Alabama Power's electricity, generating more than 12.5 million mwh.
In 1998, Unit 2 set a Farley plant on-line record of 464 days.
In 1998, Units 1 and 2 broke a record for a dual-unit continuous run. When Unit 2 shut down temporarily in March for its re-fueling, the dual-run record stopped at 297 consecutive days for both units to be on-line together.
In August 1997 Plant Farley Unit 2 joined the elite group of plants that have generated 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
In May 1995 Plant Farley Unit 1 joined the elite group of plants that have generated 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
The plant was named for Joseph M. Farley, Alabama Power Company president from 1969-1989. Farley also served as president and CEO of Southern Nuclear Operating Company.