TVA needs to reassess nuclear program

By Dave Flessner · Chattanooga Times

In this mention

The Tennessee Valley Energy Coalition (TVEC) released a study recommending TVA cancel the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant and delay startup of Sequoyah and Watts Bar facilities to save over $90 million annually. TVEC executive director Mark Siegel criticized the nuclear program for consuming $1.5 billion yearly while producing no electricity after 2.5 years. TVA's chief financial officer responded that nuclear power remains viable for meeting future electricity demand.

The problem is that nuclear power is taking over a billion dollars a year in construction and another half billion dollars a year in operating and maintenance costs and in two and a half years it hasn't produced a single watt of electricity
Mark Siegel

Original clipping

PDF didn't open? Open it in a new tab →

TVA needs to reassess nuclear program

Dave Flessner
Chattanooga Times

TVA should cancel its Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant and delay the startup of its Sequoyah and Watts Bar facilities to save more than $90 million a year and give the utility time to reassess its debt-ridden nuclear program, a TVA ratepayers group said Wednesday.

In an 18-page study of TVA's power system, the Tennessee Valley Energy Coalition said Browns Ferry, near Athens, Ala., "was poorly designed, poorly built and poorly operated" and shutting down the three-reactor plant would save TVA nearly $76.1 million a year.

Additionally, TVEC recommends deferring the restart of Sequoyah, near Soddy-Daisy, which the group claims would save the federal utility another $128.4 million annually. The ratepayers group also suggests deferring Watts Bar Unit 2, which would cost TVA $13.7 million in new debt-repayment costs but "help bring the growth of TVA's nuclear debt under control," said Mark Siegel, executive director of TVEC, a Knoxville-based citizens group that monitors TVA activities. "The problem is that nuclear power is taking over a billion dollars a year in construction and another half billion dollars a year in operating and maintenance costs and in two and a half years it hasn't produced a single watt of electricity."

TVEC charges that TVA's $16 billion investment in nuclear power plants during the past two decades has nearly destroyed the utility and suggests the utility's current $355,200-a-year contract with nuclear chief Steven A. White ought to be reassessed.

"His tenure has been very troubled and should be reassessed now," Siegel said. "From the day he walked into TVA, he took the attitude that unless you play ball my way, I'm going back to my farm (in Charlottesville, Va.). He's been given a blank check and he's spent more than $4 billion but still doesn't have anything to show for it."

TVA is currently re-evaluating its nuclear program and the agency's chief financial officer, James R. Durall, said Wednesday the TVEC study will be considered in TVA's review of its nuclear program. But in a prepared statement, Durall insisted nuclear power remains a viable part of TVA's overall power generation.