TVA votes to restart Browns Ferry unit

TVA votes to restart Browns Ferry unit

Project has $1.8B cost; foes worry about safety

By BILL POOVEY
Associated Press

The Tennessee Valley Authority Board voted yesterday to restart the utility's mothballed Unit 1 reactor at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in northern Alabama 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 because of safety concerns, is set to restart in 2007. The agency will build 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 on the Tennessee River near Athens, Ala.

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

TVA executives told the board that the utility could pay for the restart while continuing to reduce its debt. Spokesman John Moulton said specifics were expected within the next few months.

Steven Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said "no other utility could get away with doing this — making a $18 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 soot· down 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.

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 Tullahoma, 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 has a ceiling of $30 billion.

Smith said TVA told Congress that there would be a private part· ner in any future nuclear power ventures.

"The last time they increased rates they said were going to use money to pay down the debt by 50%, 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 renovations.