KNOXVILLE - TVA Directors today agreed to move ahead to revive its Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant, where construction was halted 22 years ago.

The Tennessee Valley Authority board adopted a fiscal 2011 budget that includes $248 million for engineering design and initial equipment procurement for the Unit 1 reactor at Bellefonte.

TVA projects it will need more nuclear power to meet power growth and to make up for the planned closing of at least 1,000 megawatts of coal-fired power generation.

"Our goal is to lead the nation in the delivery of new nuclear capacity," TVA President Tom Kilgore told the TVA board while outlining the agency's vision for the future.

TVA began building Bellefonte in 1974 but suspended work in 1988 when the growth in electric demand fell. TVA projects it can finish Bellefonte Unit 1 by 2018 at a projected cost from $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.

For complete details, see tomorrow's Times Free Press.