Voltane Nuclear sites Kentucky Big Sandy
Kentucky · Former coal plant
Big Sandy
Big Sandy is a former coal plant in Lawrence County, Kentucky. EIA records 1 coal unit retired in 2015 (816 MW). 281 MW of generation still operates at the site (natural gas steam turbine): an existing grid connection, shown in the app as a proxy, never as available capacity.
Screening match Microreactor
77.8 / 100
Data for 100% of the criteria
SMR
88.1 / 100
Data for 100% of the criteria
Large reactor
81.7 / 100
Data for 100% of the criteria
Screening only — not a site suitability determination.
Location Lawrence County, Kentucky. Approximate location (38.17, -82.62). Nearby candidate sites Big Sandy ranks 1st of 16 candidate sites in Kentucky by SMR match.
Get the full screening Signed-in Voltane Nuclear shows what each match is made of:
The factor-by-factor breakdown: transmission, population, seismic hazard, faults, flood, water, airports, dams, pipelines and data-center load The printable site report and the CSV export The interactive map with every layer, custom weights and Ask Voltane Request a demo Sources This site Every match U.S. EIA, EIA-860M monthly generator inventory — August 2026 inventory (released 2026-09-23/24); preliminary per EIA.U.S. EIA, EIA-860 annual generator report — 2025 final, released 2026-09-10U.S. NRC, power reactor status, decommissioning and early site permits — Checked 2026-10-04: List of Power Reactor Units (updated 2026-09-14), Power Reactor Status for the last 365 days (to 2026-10-02), decommissioning list (updated 2026-09-14), ESP pages (updated 2026-09-23)Federal sites named for new nuclear by an official source — Official announcements 2025-04-03 to 2026-09-28U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census blocks and population — 2020 Census (P.L. 94-171 counts on 2020 blocks); files dated 2023-01..2023-03 U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 urban areas and gazetteer — 2020 Census urban areas (UACE20), 2023 gazetteer releaseUSGS National Seismic Hazard Model — CONUS 2023 (R2), Alaska 2023 (R1), Hawaii 2021 (R1), Puerto Rico/USVI 2025 (R1) USGS Quaternary Fault and Fold Database — Archive dated 2026-02-23 (database edition Qfaults_2020)USGS National Atlas hydrography — 2014 editionLBNL harmonized U.S. transmission lines — Published 2026-08-03, updated 2026-09-22HIFLD electric power transmission lines (final public release) — HIFLD final release, data to 2024-09-30OpenStreetMap power lines — OpenStreetMap snapshot 2026-09-28 JRC / Copernicus GloFAS river flood hazard maps — v2.1.2 (2026-01-12; tiles 2025-12-18) FAA NASR airports — NASR cycle effective 2026-10-01USACE National Inventory of Dams — Data last updated 2026-09-23U.S. EIA natural gas pipelines — January 2020 update, the latest EIA has publishedOpenStreetMap data centers — OpenStreetMap snapshot 2026-09-28 Epoch AI, AI data centers — File dated 2026-09-08Matches from Voltane Nuclear's screening model of 2026-10-17. Weights are product assumptions, not NRC rules.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration; U.S. NRC; U.S. Census Bureau (not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau); U.S. Geological Survey; Federal Aviation Administration; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0), community-mapped and not exhaustive. Map: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundaries.
Screening only — not a site suitability determination.
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