Nine Mile Point Nuclear Reactors

The other day Adam and I took a trip to one of our favorite spots Rudi’s for a fish sandwich. Close by in Oswego county are the Nine Mile Nuclear Reactors. Read on to learn more about this interesting place in New York!

Why go to a Nuclear Site?

Luckily (or unfortunately if you've wanted superpowers) you won't grow extra limbs or have any side effects from going near the nuclear plant. We drove on the road right past the cooling tower and took a few pictures. However, there is private property so make sure you don't go anywhere posted do not enter. Adam has always been fascinated by nuclear power (and I think it's pretty cool too), and we wanted to see if we could get some pictures of the reactor. You can see the cooling tower of Reactor 2 from far away and some people refer to it as a "cloud maker" because the steam produced pumps out of the top so much that it seems to be "making" clouds. Another very fascinating thing about the cooling tower is just how big it is! Pictures do not do the looming tower justice it's an amazing 543 feet tall. Reactor 1 however only pulls cold water from nearby Lake Ontario and doesn't have a cooling tower to photograph.

More About the "Cloud Maker"...

The Reactor 2 cooling tower is there because it is an essential part of the Boiling Water Reactor or BWR for short. Since I do not have a science degree (at least not for nuclear activity) I will give you the definition of a BWR from Wikipedia:

A boiling water reactor uses demineralized water as a coolant and neutron moderator. Heat is produced by nuclear fission in the reactor core, and this causes the cooling water to boil, producing steam. The steam is directly used to drive a turbine, after which it is cooled in a condenser and converted back to liquid water. This water is then returned to the reactor core, completing the loop.

So in short, the water is heated up by the nuclear fission reaction creating steam, that steam drives the turbine, and then it rises and is cooled in the cooling tower, and falls back as liquid water to repeat the process. In a few of the pictures you can see the sheets of water falling at the bottom of the cooling tower and the noise it makes actually sounds like a waterfall.

The plants two reactors generate a lot of power as well. But without knowing the exact amount of power the houses around use we can't calculate how many houses they power, but I know it’s a lot!

In Conclusion...

I hope this post helped you learn a little about nuclear reactors. I am not an expert on them but they are kind of cool! If you’re ever in the Central New York area and want to see it you can see it from about 30 miles away.

As always thank you for following along and check back every Wednesday for something new! And if you ever have any questions or comments I’m more than happy to answer or have a conversation.