TVA board votes to restart reactor

TVA board votes to restart reactor

Environmentalists concerned about safety, $1.8 billion cost

By Bill Poovey
Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Tennessee Valley Authority Board voted Thursday to restart the utility's mothballed Unit 1 reactor at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant but did not say how it would pay the projected $1.8 billion cost.

The 29-year-old reactor, which was shut down in 1985 due to safety concerns, is set to restart in 2007. The agency also will construct a new cooling tower for the reactor.

The three-member board said it followed the recommendation of TVA employees and had received the blessing of government environmental agencies.

However, environmental activists who attended the board meeting warned members that the old equipment would pose a safety risk, particularly for states east and downwind of the reactor near Athens, Ala.

Elected officials from several northern Alabama cities and representatives of unions that will benefit from some 2,400 temporary jobs countered by saying they were in favor of the restart.

TVA executives told the board the utility could pay for the restart while continuing to reduce its

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

Construction at Browns Ferry, TVA's first nuclear power plant, began in 1966. The plant was the largest in the world when it began operation in 1974. It was the first nuclear plant in the world to generate more than 1 billion watts of power. TVA shut down Browns Ferry in March 1985 for safety reasons. The second of Browns Ferry's three units was returned to service in May 1991, and Unit 3 returned to commercial operation in 1995. Unit 1, idle since 1985, is scheduled to be restarted in 2007.

Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said "no other utility could get away with doing this – making a $1.8 billion decision based on staff recommendation."

"This is a huge, huge gamble," he said.

Smith added that restarting an old reactor after a 17-year shutdown would be "very contrary" to what other electricity providers are doing to boost generating capacity, such as developing natural gas-fired plants.

"There is nobody who is restarting old nuclear reactors that are of 1960s vintage and haven't started in 17 years," Smith said. "They are taking this nuclear reactor and asking it to go beyond its life. So they are going to run it longer than it was designed to run. They are trying to get more power out of it than it was designed to do."

Reactors provide about one-third of the power generated by TVA, while coal is the fuel source for about two-thirds. TVA recently stopped work on an unfinished natural gas-powered plant in Tulahoma, Tenn., after investing nearly $150 million.

TVA's nuclear staff in March recommended restarting the reactor, which as projected would power about 650,000 homes.

The projected $1.8 billion price tag poses a challenge for the nation's largest public utility, which is under pressure to reduce a $25 billion debt that can't exceed $30 billion.

Smith said TVA told Congress there would be a private partner in any future nuclear power ventures.

"The last time they increased rates, they said they were going to use (the) money to pay down the debt by 50 percent, from $27 billion to $14 billion. ... Right around $2 billion has been reduced. Now they are just going to take about all the money and commit it to go toward finishing this nuclear reactor," Smith said.

TVA voluntarily shut down the Unit 1 reactor in March 1985 because of safety concerns. Units 2 and 3 at Browns Ferry also stopped in 1985 but were restarted in 1991 and 1995 after major renovations.

TVA provides electricity to about 8.3 million people in Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama and Mississippi.