Press Mention Atlanta Journal Constitution March 16, 2002
SACE Referenced
Board OKs restart of Alabama reactor
In this mention
The Tennessee Valley Authority board voted to restart the mothballed Unit 1 reactor at Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama, set for May 2007. Environmental activists, including a member of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, opposed the decision, citing safety concerns with the 29-year-old reactor that had been shut down since 1985. The board determined that restarting the idle reactor was preferable to building a new plant.
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ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION Mar 17, 2002
The Tennessee Valley Authority board's action would restart the Unit 1 reactor at Browns Ferry nuclear plant in 2007.
Board OKs restart
of Alabama reactor
By BILL POOVEY
Associated Press
Huntsville, Ala. — The Tennessee Valley Authority board voted Thursday to restart the mothballed Unit 1 reactor at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant.
The 29-year-old reactor, in north-central Alabama, was shut down in 1985 because of safety concerns. With the board's action, it is now set to restart in May 2007.
Environmental activists who attended the meeting warned the board that old equipment increases the safety risk.
But the three-member board followed the recommendation of TVA staff and said the Environmental Protection Agency agreed that restarting the idle reactor was a better option than building a new plant.
TVA Chairman Glenn L. McCullough Jr. said the move advances the Bush administration's national energy policy, "which calls for the safe expansion of nuclear energy."
U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) and U.S. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) released statements supporting the decision.
Mayor Dan Williams of Athens, Ala., where the plant is located, pledged community support. Representatives of construction unions said they were looking forward to the 2,000 temporary jobs that the $1.8 billion project will create over the next five years.
Work, mostly involving replacing pipes and cables, is expected to start in about a year.
Opponents of the restart pleaded with the board to allow additional public participation before a vote.
"Many of the people advising are pro-nuclear," said John Noel, a member of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Tennessee Environmental Council. He told board members they were making "perhaps a life-and-death decision."
McCullough said the decision to restart the reactor was mainly to accommodate long-term economic development of the region.
1V A voluntarily shut down the Unit 1 reactor in March 1985 in response to safety concerns. Units 2 and 3 at Browns Ferry also stopped in 1985 but were restarted in 1991 and 1995 after major renovations.
TVA, a federal corporation, provides electricity to about 8.3 million people in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.