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Belews Lake

Bodies of water of Forsyth County, North CarolinaBodies of water of Rockingham County, North CarolinaBodies of water of Stokes County, North CarolinaProtected areas of Forsyth County, North CarolinaProtected areas of Rockingham County, North Carolina
Protected areas of Stokes County, North CarolinaReservoirs in North Carolina
Belews Lake NC kmf
Belews Lake NC kmf

Belews Lake is a reservoir in Stokes, Rockingham, Guilford and Forsyth counties of North Carolina, near the towns of Stokesdale and Pine Hall. It was created in 1973 by the Duke Energy corporation as a cooling basin for the corporation's Belews Creek Steam Station, a coal-burning power plant. There are 4 public boat ramps on the lake, with 2 being commissioned by the North Carolina Wildlife Resorces Commission (NCWRC). Piney Bluff is located on the southern part of the lake, in Forsyth County, with entrance on NC Highway 65. Pine Hall Boat Launch is the closest to the plant, located in Stokes County, with the ramp being located on the west-northwest part of the lake, with entrance from Pine Hall Rd. Carolina Marina is located in the northern part of the lake, in Rockingham County, with a fee for use. Humphreys Ridge has a boat ramp located on the eastern side of the lake, in Rockingham County. The power plant can be seen from the ramp. Cooling water was pumped back and forth between the plant and reservoir until 1986 when the corporation decided to use other methods to dispose of their coal ash waste. From 1974-1986, contaminants such as vanadium, nickel, cobalt, barium, arsenic, were introduced into the lake through the release of contaminated cooling water from the power plant back into the lake. Many scientific studies were undertaken at Belews Lake and their findings, along with those conducted at the Kesterson Reservoir, are fundamental to today's understanding of the ecological risks associated with elevated selenium concentrations in aquatic systems.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Belews Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 36.299 ° E -80.0375 °
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Stokes County



North Carolina, United States
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Belews Lake NC kmf
Belews Lake NC kmf
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Belews Creek Power Station
Belews Creek Power Station

Belews Creek Steam Station is a 2.24-GW, two-unit coal-fired generating facility located on Belews Lake in Stokes County, North Carolina. It is Duke Energy’s largest coal-burning power plant in the Carolinas and consistently ranks among the most efficient coal facilities in the United States. During 2006, it was the fifth most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,023 Btu/kWh (37.8% conversion efficiency). The remaining 62.2% of energy released by the burning coal is in the form of heat. It is dumped into Belews Lake, a man-made lake created by Duke Power for cooling water purposes in the early 1970s. In 2008, it was the #1 most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,204 British thermal units per kilowatt-hour (2.697 kWh/kWh) or 37.1% conversion efficiency. The plant consists of two nearly identical units, launched into operation in 1974 and 1975. Each furnace, a Babcock & Wilcox boiler, heats steam to 1,000 °F (538 °C) in both the secondary superheater and reheater sections. The boilers are supercritical units, operating at 3,400 pounds per square inch (230 atm) of pressure. All four generators (two low pressure generators and two high pressure/intermediate pressure generators) are Westinghouse generators. The low pressure, intermediate pressure and high pressure steam turbines were originally Westinghouse units, but were replaced over time with Alstom steam-path upgraded components. The turbine valves are the originally installed Westinghouse equipment. The plant employs multiple pollution control systems, including a selective catalytic reducer which removes nitrogen oxides, an electrostatic precipitator which removes fly ash, and low NOx burners in the boiler. The plant has completed a $500 million flue-gas desulfurization project which came online during the beginning of 2008. This project has reduced the plant's sulfur dioxide emissions by 95%.

Walnut Cove, North Carolina
Walnut Cove, North Carolina

Walnut Cove is a town in Stokes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,536 at the 2020 census.It is the home of the Walnut Cove Springfest, which draws many visitors to the area. Festival-organizers marked 1889, the town's incorporation date, but the town's roots date to the mid-18th century when it was known as Town Fork. Town Fork settlers formed a bond with Moravians in Bethania and Bethabara. Eventually, William Lash, a Moravian settler at Bethania, bought land along the Town Fork Creek, which later developed into a large plantation named Walnut Cove. The Town was a railroad center in its former years, and today remnants of the old Train Depot still stand on Depot Street. It is also home to historic Covington House (built in 1821), Fulp-Marshall Home (built in 1836), Culler Roller Mill now known as Monitor Roller Mill (built in 1900). Walnut Cove is also home to South Stokes High School, a big part of the town is located to the west of town, near NC 8 and Hawkins Road. Belews Lake and Hanging Rock State Park are located nearby. Winston-Salem is 23 miles (37 km) to the southeast via US 311, US 158 and Salem Parkway (US 421). Danbury is 10 miles (16 km) to the north via NC 89. Germanton is 6.6 miles to the west-southwest via NC 65. Madison and Mayodan are 14 miles (23 km) to the northeast via US 311. Other nearby cities include Kernersville, Walkertown, Rural Hall, Stokesdale, and the small community of Pine Hall.