Browns Ferry nuclear reactor returns to service after outage

photo Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is near Athens, Ala.
Arkansas-St. John's Live Blog

TVA's newest reactor at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant returned to service on Monday after completing a refueling outage in which TVA spent more than $5 million employing more than 800 temporary contract workers.

Unit 3 resumed generating electricity at 6:38 a.m. CDT on Monday. The unit is expected to reach full capacity within the next few days. Browns Ferry Units 1 and 2 continue generating electricity at 100 percent power.

During the outage, 288 fuel assemblies were replaced and more than 11,500 work activities were completed to prepare Unit 3 for another two-year fuel cycle.

Major work activities included the installation of a replacement turbine rotor refurbished to resist corrosion and stress cracking; key reactor safety systems were disassembled, inspected and upgraded; and more than 100 electrical relays and breakers were replaced with upgraded equipment.

"The Browns Ferry team did an excellent job completing a safe and event-free outage while also operating Units 1 and 2 to provide power to TVA customers," Browns Ferry Site Manager Keith Polson said in a prepared statement.

Browns Ferry Unit 3 is one of six nuclear power generating units operated by TVA at three facilities. At full capacity, Browns Ferry's three 1,100-megawatt units produce enough electricity to power more than 2 million homes.

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