J.M. Stuart Station

J.M. Stuart Station

Company type	Power station
Industry	Energy
Founded	1970
Defunct	2018-05-24
Headquarters	Aberdeen, Ohio , United States
Area served	Ohio, United States
Products	Electricity
Owner	AES Ohio Generation (division of AES Corporation)
Parent	AES Corporation

J.M. Stuart Station was a coal-fired power facility with a capacity of 2.3 gigawatts (2,318 MW), situated near Aberdeen, Ohio in Adams County, Ohio. The plant consisted of four generating units and was managed by AES Ohio Generation, a division of the AES Corporation. It commenced operations in 1970 and was permanently shut down on May 24, 2018.

History

Construction kicked off in 1966, with Units 2, 1, and 3 entering commercial operation sequentially in 1970, 1971, and 1972. The station reached full capacity with the addition of Unit 4 in 1974, culminating in a total investment of $390 million. The facility was named in honor of James M. Stuart, former chairman of Dayton Power & Light (DP&L). For cooling purposes, it utilized water from the Ohio River, releasing discharge into Little Three Mile Creek.

In the 1980s, J.M. Stuart integrated prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) technology to enhance coal combustion efficiency and operational dependability. In August 2014, Duke Energy divested its ownership interest in the coal-fired units to Dynegy. Meanwhile, American Electric Power (AEP) maintained a 26% ownership through its subsidiary. Control of operations shifted from DP&L to AES Ohio Generation in October 2017.

Closure

In March 2017, DP&L announced its intention to retire both J.M. Stuart and the adjacent Killen Station due to financial and environmental pressures, following agreements with the Sierra Club and other stakeholders. Electricity production at Stuart ceased on May 24, 2018. Subsequently, in December 2019, DP&L sold the property to Kingfisher Development for environmental cleanup and future redevelopment.

Environmental mitigation

During the construction phase of Unit 4, Cincinnati Gas and Electric—an entity that later became part of Duke Energy—installed a cooling tower to comply with Ohio’s pollution control regulations. The plant’s four smokestacks received upgrades with electrostatic precipitators aimed at lowering fly ash emissions. Between 1990 and 1994, J.M. Stuart served as a demonstration site for Babcock & Wilcox’s Low-NOx Cell Burner technology, achieving nitrogen oxide emission reductions exceeding 50%.

From 2003 to 2004, Black & Veatch equipped each generating unit with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems to meet requirements set forth by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and Ohio’s NOx State Implementation Plan. In 2008, flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) systems designed collaboratively by Black & Veatch and Chiyoda Corporation were installed, cutting sulfur dioxide emissions by approximately 97%. To support this FGD installation, a new smokestack measuring 900 feet was erected.

Incidents

An electrical arc flash incident in October 1994 resulted in the deaths of two employees and led to a $295,000 penalty imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) due to unsafe working conditions.

In July 2006, a fatal accident occurred when a fly ash pile collapsed into an adjacent pond, engulfing equipment and causing the death of one worker.

On January 10, 2017, an explosion at Unit 1 injured six individuals and prompted a temporary shutdown while DP&L conducted an investigation. Although restart testing commenced the next month, commercial operation of Unit 1 was never resumed following this event.

Archaeological site

The property owned by DP&L for J.M. Stuart includes the Greenlee Tract—an area historically inhabited by Native American populations for over 8,000 years as well as by settlers during the nineteenth century. In the early 1990s, as DP&L considered expanding fly ash disposal zones on this tract, it sponsored archaeological research efforts. Excavations conducted between 1991 and 2011 uncovered more than 200,000 artifacts spanning human occupation from Pre-Columbian times through the early nineteenth century.

Additionally, the Stuart Station site contained a small pioneer cemetery with graves belonging to five Adams County families: Bradford, Ellis, Grimes, Kimble, and Moore. Under Chief Civil Engineer C. Russell Dole’s leadership, DP&L researched family histories and secured permissions for relocating these gravesites. The remains were respectfully reinterred at Manchester Cemetery in Manchester, Ohio; a dedication ceremony took place on October 30, 1963.

See also

• List of largest power stations in the United States
• List of power stations in Ohio