Nuke unit protested at mock party

By Jesse Tinsley · News-Sentinel

In this mention

Environmental groups held a mock celebration of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant's 22nd birthday in Knoxville, protesting its continued construction and cost overruns. Steve Smith, executive director of the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition, criticized TVA's decision to continue funding Unit 1 despite canceling Unit 2, calling the project economically unfeasible.

After the TVA announcement in December about the three units, a lot of people think that Watts Bar has been canceled. Unit 2 is what they are looking at canceling, but not Unit 1. TVA's decision to cancel Unit 2 was good, but they continue to throw a lot of money at Unit 1
Stephen A. Smith

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Nuke unit protested at mock party

By Jesse Tinsley
News-Sentinel staff writer

In the shadows of the TVA towers in Knoxville on Monday, environmental groups held a mock celebration of the 22nd birthday of Watts Bar, the nation's only nuclear plant under construction.

Opponents contend it is neither necessary nor economically feasible.

TVA officials didn't attend the noon festivities at downtown's Market Square, where chocolate cake, studded with 22 colored candles, and ice cream, molded in the form of a nuclear cooling tower, were served.

Meanwhile, TVA officials continue to express confidence that Watts Bar Unit 1 would be brought on-line sometime later this year. "TVA is committed to completing the plant to the highest level of safety and quality," said spokesman John Moulton.

However, members of the Foundation for Global Sustainability and Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville are of a radically different opinion.

"Today is the 22nd birthday of Watts Bar, and it has been 99 percent complete for eight years," shouted SPEAK member Mary Anne Peine. "Every year, they throw more money into this pit, and we have nothing to show for it. It is still sucking our money away."

SPEAK member Ruth Cohen likened the unfinished nuclear unit to an expensive and abused child, which has grown up and is "badly in need of a career change."

"Watts Bar was an expensive child," she said. "We thought it would cost only $325 million, but now it is over $7.2 billion. Watts Bar was abused growing up but you are an adult now. ... It's time to take some responsibility. 'Even if Watts Bar does get a job, who will pay for its retirement? I want to send a clear message to Watts Bar's parents, TVA, that its present course is unacceptable. Watts Bar is unwanted, unnecessary, uneconomic and unsafe.'"

TVA officials recently announced the unlikely completion of three units - two at Browns Ferry and one at Watts Bar - as the agency eases out of the nuclear construction business.

"After the TVA announcement in December about the three units, a lot of people think that Watts Bar has been canceled," said Steve Smith, executive director of the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition.

"Unit 2 is what they are looking at canceling, but not Unit 1. TVA's decision to cancel Unit 2 was good, but they continue to throw a lot of money at Unit 1," Smith said.