Unfinished nuclear plant could begin burning coal

Unfinished nuclear plant could begin burning coal

BY DAVE FLESSNER
BUSINESS EDITOR

HOLLYWOOD, Ala. — The nation's biggest unfinished nuclear power plant could end up being the site of a new clean-burning coal plant.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is preparing plans to build a coal gasification plant at its Bellefonte site here, where construction on a twin-reactor nuclear plant was suspended in 1988. TVA plans to launch an environmental review this week of a possible joint venture with Texaco Inc. to erect a combined cycle, clean-burning coal plant adjacent to the idle nuclear complex.

The proposed plant, designed to help TVA and other Southern utilities meet rising electricity demands, is already being embraced here by community leaders eager to get some return and jobs out of the $4 billion already invested at Bellefonte.

Many North Alabama residents are hopeful.

"The whole town is thrilled that TVA is even thinking about some way to activate this plant," said Bill McClendon, a Chevron oil jobber who was elected mayor of Hollywood.

wood last year. "It was an important part of our economy in the 1970s and 1980s, and we need it to be a part of our economy in this century."

The proposed coal plant would use the switchyard, railroads and barge facilities at Bellefonte. But the coal plant would not preclude TVA from also completing a separate nuclear plant on the site, according to TVA spokesman Gil Francis.

The coal gasification plant would use a Texaco design technology to convert the coal into a gas for cleaner burning than conventional fossil fuel plants. Texaco spokesman Fred Palmer said the plant would probably take three to six years to build and would have far fewer emissions than other coal plants" in the region.

Mr. Francis said the federal utility will prepare an environmental impact study by the end of the year on a 1,500 megawatt design. TVA studied a similar idea in 1997, but those plans were deferred when TVA began pitching the unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant as a site for the U.S. military to produce tritium — a key material for nuclear weapons.

The Department of Energy ultimately decided to make whatever tritium it needed from a nuclear plant at TVA's Watts Bar and Sequoyah plants in Tennessee.

"We've had so many ups and

downs with Bellefonte that a lot of us have learned not to get too excited," said Elizabeth Haas, a 78-year-old former Hollywood mayor who lives only a half mile from the plant.

But other politicians are getting excited about reactivating the plant, which now employs only a few dozen maintenance and security personnel.

The coal plant would generate about 1,000 jobs during construction and require about 100 persons to operate the plant, according to U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala.

"This is great news for all of us in Jackson County," said Rep. Cramer, who was briefed last week by TVA officials about their plans. "TVA says that this project is in its early stages of development, but I believe things are moving along smoothly and I am going to do all that I can to see that we made this happen."

The construction and operating staffing required for the coal plant is far below what TVA projects it would need to operate Bellefonte as a nuclear plant, but local officials will take whatever they can get.

"I don't care what they do with it just as long as they do something," said Richard Warr, a Scottsboro flower shop owner who serves on the Hollywood City Council. "Either finish it as a nuclear plant or a coal plant or just bulldoze it. As it is now, it's an eyesore and an uncertainty for our community that TVA needs to move ahead on."

TVA has invested more than $4 billion at Bellefonte and has previously estimated it would cost another $2 billion to finish the plant as a nuclear facility. TVA Director Glenn McCullough said last month that Bellefonte will probably not be completed as a nuclear plant because of the uncertain expense of finishing a plant begun 27 years ago. TVA Chairman Craven Crowell said last week that Bellefonte may still have a future — either with nuclear or another fuel. "The timing has to be right," he said.

TVA began construction at Bellefonte in 1974, and one of the reactors was once judged to be 90 percent complete when construction was halted in the 1980s.

Hollywood municipal leaders remember those days fondly.

"TVA paved our roads, paid for four police officers and bought us a fire truck and police cars," said Hollywood City Clerk Lola Bradford, whose father and brother also worked at Bellefonte.

Anti-nuclear activists said they have mixed feelings about TVA's proposal to study coal gasification while keeping the nuclear option open.

"The issue is complicated, and it's a real challenge because while there are advantages of these clean coal technologies, it's difficult to think about a type of coal refinery right next to a nuclear plant," said Dr. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

But the issue isn't complicated for economic development leaders here.

"TVA has been good to this area, but Bellefonte is really just a White Elephant right now," said Rick Roden, executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce in Scottsboro. "With the energy crisis in California and other places, we need the power that this plant can produce. And with the national economy slowing down a bit, we could use the jobs this plant would generate here in Jackson County."