Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station
PNM is proud to be one of several owners of Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station, largest nuclear plant in the United States.
Located about 50 miles west of Phoenix in Tonopah, Ariz.,
Palo Verde generates 3,810 megawatts of energy. The plant,
which has been online since 1986, services homes throughout
the Southwest and meets nearly 20 percent of the power needs of
PNM customers.
PNM's investment in Palo Verde, and the competitive cost of the power it produces, is one of the main reasons PNM electric rates are so affordable. Today, PNM electric rates remain below the regional and national average.
Environment
- The plant does not use fossil fuels to generate electricity
and produces no air emissions.
- If all the electricity used throughout one person's life
was produced by nuclear power, that person's share of waste
from nuclear facilities would fit in a soda can.
- Nuclear reactors and steam generators are located in a
containment building — an airtight, reinforced concrete
structure designed to withstand the force of a jet airplane.
- Palo Verde is the only nuclear energy facility in the
world that uses treated sewage effluence for cooling water.
The plant uses effluent water from the City of Phoenix,
where it is treated in an 80-acre reservoir for use in the
plant's cooling towers. More than 20 billion gallons of
this water are recycled each year.
Ownership
- Arizona Public Service: 29.1 percent
- Salt River Project: 17.5 percent
- Southern California Edison: 15.8 percent
- El Paso Electric: 15.8 percent
- PNM: 10.2 percent
- Southern California Public Power Authority: 5.9 percent
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power: 5.7 percent
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