Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station

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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 30 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 are 20 percent below the regional average and 15 percent below the 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