Press Mention The Chattanooga Times May 9, 1994
Topical Mention
Protest marks years of site's construction
In this mention
Environmental activists, including Earth First! members, staged a protest at the TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant in Chattanooga to mark the facility's 23rd birthday while still under construction. The plant, which began permitting in 1972, has yet to produce electricity and is expected to be completed in 1995, with TVA having already spent $8 billion on the project. Protests were held simultaneously in Knoxville and Nashville, largely supported by college student organizations.
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An Earth First! activist, wearing an Al Gore mask, juggles lemons as another protester, Chris Irwin, stands nearby with his sign.
Protest marks years of site's construction
By Noble Sprayberry
The Chattanooga Times
With cakes shaped to resemble nuclear plant cooling towers, nine environmental activists led a tongue-in-cheek 23rd-birthday celebration for the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant.
"You look like a lemon, and you're built like one, too," protesters sang Monday at the TVA complex in Chattanooga during one of three protests statewide.
While permits to build the plant were issued in 1972, Watts Bar has yet to produce electricity. The facility is the nation's only nuclear plant under construction. The Unit 1 reactor is expected to be completed some time in 1995, authorities said.
"We're not setting a date because we're working to complete a quality plant," said Barbara Martocci, a Watts Bar spokeswoman. The facility remains on a schedule providing a 90 percent chance for operation by fall.
Every day, $1 million is spent at Watts Bar. TVA has already spent $8 billion at the plant, Ms. Martocci said.
At least $500 million more is needed to complete Unit 1, the first of two power generating units originally planned for the Rhea County facility.
It's a schedule protesters hope is not met.
"We hope this is the last birthday for Watts Bar," said John Johnson, a protester.
In a recent meeting between TVA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, plant officials were told they could no longer gobble up the regulatory agency's time.
Earth First! members Monique Mollet, John Johnson, Olivia Lim and Sheila Cheyenne light candles on cakes with signs "A sour deal for the Tennessee Valley," and "Watts Bar is a lemon."
Last year, NRC workers spent 30,000 hours working at the Rhea County facility, prompting demands for TVA to improve scheduling with the NRC.
Completing the facility requires inspection of various components before they are cleared for operation. TVA must improve their scheduling efforts to limit the amount of time NRC inspectors spend at the facility, said Ken Clark, an NRC spokesman in Atlanta.
"We felt they should begin to get better schedules ready for our inspectors," Clark said. "TVA does seem to be making some progress in getting things done."
In addition to Chattanooga, protests were scheduled in Knoxville and Nashville, and each was largely supported by organizations of college students.