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Waterford 3

Nuclear power plant · St Charles County, Louisiana

Nameplate capacity
1,200 MW
Rank in Louisiana
#6
of 98 plants
In service since
1985
September 1985

Details

Primary fuel
Nuclear
Technology
Nuclear
Operator
Entergy Louisiana LLC
County
St Charles County
Generating units
1
Share of state capacity
4.10%
Rank among nuclear plants in Louisiana
#1 of 2
EIA plant code
4270

Generating units

Individual generating units at Waterford 3
UnitTechnologyNameplateSummerOnlineStatus
3Nuclear1,200 MW1,087 MW1985Operating

Nameplate is the maximum rated output; summer capacity is what the unit can reliably deliver on a hot day, which is typically lower.

Similarly sized plants in Louisiana

R S NelsonCoal1,434 MW
Acadia Energy CenterNatural gas1,389 MW
Plaquemine Cogeneration PlantNatural gas1,085 MW
River BendNuclear1,036 MW

About this data

From EIA’s inventory of operable generators, May 2026 release. Capacity is nameplate — the maximum rated output of the equipment, not what the plant actually generates over a year, which depends on how often it runs. A 1,200 MW solar plant and a 1,200 MW nuclear plant have the same entry here and produce very different amounts of electricity.

“In service since” is the earliest in-service date among the units still listed, so a site rebuilt around newer equipment can read as younger than the site itself. All Louisiana power plants · What Louisiana actually generates