J.M. Stuart Station

J.M. Stuart Station was a 2.3-gigawatt (2,318 MW) coal power plant located east of Aberdeen, Ohio in Adams County, Ohio. The power plant had four units and was operated by AES Ohio Generation, a subsidiary of the AES Corporation. It began operations in 1970 and ceased on May 24, 2018.

J.M. Stuart Station
J.M. Stuart Station in 2017 viewed from U.S. Route 52
CountryUnited States
LocationSprigg Township, Adams County, near Aberdeen, Ohio
Coordinates38°38′16″N 83°41′35″W
StatusDecommissioned
Commission dateUnit 1: 1971
Unit 2: 1970
Unit 3: 1972
Unit 4: 1974
Decommission dateUnit 1: 2017
Units 2–4: May 24, 2018
Owner(s)AES Ohio Generation (35%)
AEP Generation Resources (26%)
Dynegy (39%)
Operator(s)AES Ohio Generation
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Cooling sourceOhio River
Power generation
Nameplate capacity2,318 MW

History

Construction of J.M. Stuart commenced in 1966 with Units 2, 1, and 3 beginning commercial generation in 1970, 1971, and 1972 respectively.[1][2] The plant became fully operational with the completion of Unit 4 in 1974.[2] The total cost of building Stuart was $390 million.[3] The plant was named after James M. Stuart, a former chairman of Dayton Power & Light (DP&L).[1] Although the plant's cooling source was the Ohio River, its discharge egressed into Little Three Mile Creek.[2] In the 1980s, Stuart was an early adopter of the prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA), a coal analyzer, that increased on-line reliability for the plant.[4] In August 2014, Duke Energy sold its stake in the coal units to Dynegy.[5] American Electric Power (AEP) held a 26% stake in the coal units through a subsidiary.[6] Operations at Stuart were transferred from DP&L to AES Ohio Generation in October 2017.[7]

Closure

DP&L announced plans in March 2017 to close J.M. Stuart along with its sister plant Killen Station due to economic and environmental challenges in an agreement with the Sierra Club and several unnamed parties.[8] Electricity generation at Stuart ceased on May 24, 2018.[9] In December 2019, DP&L sold the site to Kingfisher Development for remediation and redevelopment.[10]

Environmental mitigation

During construction of Unit 4, a cooling tower was commissioned by Cincinnati Gas and Electric (CG&E) (a forerunner of Duke Energy) in order to meet pollution control mandates set by the State of Ohio.[2][11] Its four smokestacks were upgraded with electrostatic precipitators to prevent fly ash from being released into the atmosphere.[3] Stuart was the test site for the Low-NO
x Cell Burner (LNCB) designed by Babcock & Wilcox. The LNCB project utilized Unit 4 over a duration of 53 months from 1990–1994. The test confirmed that a LNCB can reduce nitrogen oxide (NO
x ) emissions by more than 50%, but the carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were inconclusive.[12] Each unit at Stuart were retrofitted with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems between 2003–2004 by Black & Veatch. The SCRs were installed to comply with the Clean Air Act's 1990 amendments and Ohio's NO
x State Implementation Plan (SIP).[13] Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment, designed by Black & Veatch with assistance from the Chiyoda Corporation was installed at J.M. Stuart in 2008. The FGD equipment reduced 97% of the plant's sulfur dioxide (SO
2) emissions.[14] In order to support the FGD process, a 900 ft (274 m) smokestack was constructed.[14][15]

Incidents

A electrical arc flash killed two employees in October 1994.[16][17] DP&L was levied a $295,000 fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for hazardous safety practices.[17]

A worker was killed in July 2006 when a pile of fly ash slipped back into the pond burying the equipment and the worker.[18]

On January 10, 2017, an explosion occurred at Unit 1 injuring six people. The plant had to be temporarily shut down while DP&L investigated and assessed the explosion.[19][20] The plant began a restart the following month.[21] DP&L never restarted commercial generation of Unit 1 after the incident.[20]

Archaeological site

The lands owned by DP&L for J.M. Stuart contain the Greenlee Tract. This tract was used by Native Americans in the past over an 8,000 year period and later settlers in the 19th Century.[22] As DP&L looked to expand its fly ash disposal areas in the 1990s, they funded a study to determine the archaeology resources of the Greenlee Tract.[23] Archaeology was conducted on the tract periodically from 1991–2011. Over 200,000 artifacts were collected revealing human activity from the Pre-Columbian era and from the early 19th Century.[22][24]

See also

References
  1. "New Stuart Generating Station to Open". The Fairborn Daily Herald. October 14, 1970. p. 16. Retrieved April 4, 2018 – via https://newspaperarchive.com/.
  2. Huff, Bernard L. (September 28, 1976). "J.M. Stuart Station 316(a) Demonstration Final" (PDF). EPA.gov. WAPORA, Inc. p. 1. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  3. "Operation is Closer". The Fairborn Daily Herald. June 12, 1974. p. 12. Retrieved April 19, 2018 – via https://newspaperarchive.com/.
  4. Foster, Steve; Linsberg, Mark (2005). "Using an On-line Nuclear Analyzer to Optimize the Operation of a Coal Burning Power Plant" (PDF). sabiainc.com. SABIA, Inc. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  5. Mitchell, Wendy (August 22, 2014). "Duke Energy selling interest in Stuart and Killen Stations". The Ledger Independent. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  6. "AEP Generation Resources". Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. Gnau, Thomas (September 22, 2017). "300 DPL employees to be transfered [sic] to AES Ohio Generation". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  8. Mitchell, Wendy (March 20, 2017). "DP&L determined to close J.M. Stuart and Killen power plants". The Ledger Independent. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  9. Beech, Patricia (May 24, 2018). "J.M. Stuart Plant ceases operations". The People's Defender. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  10. Gnau, Thomas (December 16, 2019). "DPL prepares to sell two Adams County power plants". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  11. Bode, Patricia (September 1972). "Pollution: Take heart–we're actually gaining on the stuff". Cincinnati Magazine. p. 65. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  12. "Full-Scale Demonstration of Low-NO
    x     Cell Burner Retrofit"    . United States Department of Energy (DOE). July 1994. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
  13. "Black & Veatch completing SCR project for Dayton Power & Light". Power Engineering. January 31, 2003. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  14. Blankinship, Steve (October 1, 2008). "Go Take a Bath". Power Engineering. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  15. Mitchell, Wendy (August 29, 2005). "DP&L constructs two plants to facilitate construction of station's new stack". The Ledger Independent. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  16. "One killed, three injured in power plant accident". The BG News. November 1, 1994. p. 3. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  17. "DP&L Agrees to OSHA Fine, Safety Improvements". Dayton Daily News. May 4, 1995. p. 7B. Retrieved January 14, 2018 – via https://www.newsbank.com/.
  18. Mitchell, Wendy (July 25, 2006). "Bracken County man killed in ash pond slide at DP&L". The Ledger Independent. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  19. Griffin, Dan (January 10, 2017). "6 injured in explosion at Adams County plant; plant closed for 'thorough investigation'". WLWT-TV. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  20. The AES Corporation Fiscal Year 2017 Form 10-K (PDF) (Report). AES Corporation. February 27, 2018. p. 17. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  21. Mitchell, Wendy (February 14, 2017). "Restart testing beginning at damaged power plant". The Ledger Independent. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  22. "People & Place: Archaeological Discoveries in Southern Ohio – Part 1" (PDF). Gray & Pape. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  23. Purtill, Matthew (2012). A Persistent Place: A Landscape Approach to the Prehistoric Archaeology of the Greenlee Tract in Southern Ohio. Lulu.com. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-1105873232.
  24. "People & Place: Archaeological Discoveries in Southern Ohio – Part 2" (PDF). Gray & Pepe. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
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