The Tennessee Valley Authority has asked regulators for an operating license to load nuclear fuel in its Unit 2 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant this fall and to add the first new nuclear reactor to America' electric grid in nearly two decades.
TVA released a letter Friday sent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission informing them that construction of the Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear reactor is "substantially complete." Pending final tests of containment and emergency systems, TVA should be ready to load nuclear fuel into the new reactor this fall and begin power generation before the end of 2015.
"TVA concludes that construction of Watts Bar Unit 2 has been substantially completed in conformity with applicable requirements," J.W. Shea, vice president of nuclear licensing for TVA, wrote this week to the NRC. "TVA also has determined that the unit will operate in accordance with applicable requirements and that dual unit operation with Unit 1 can be conducted safely."
Shea said TVA has turned over "a substantial number of plant structures, systems, and components" to its engineering startup team for final testing at the plant near Spring City, Tenn.
TVA said earlier this week it has successfully completed testing of operating systems in the new unit.
"Completion of hot functional testing and submittal of the substantially complete notification are among the historic milestones that continue to be achieved at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant as Unit 2 is completed and tested the right way safely, with quality and in a manner to ensure regulatory compliance and excellence in operations after licensing," Mike Skaggs, senior vice president of Watts Bar Operations and Construction, said in a statement Friday.
TVA launched construction of Watts Bar in January 1973, but work on the twin-reactor plant has been started and stopped several times over the past four decades. As the plant was built, regulations for new nuclear plants have been modified in the wake of the accidents at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, forcing costly redesigns and plant changes.
After earlier cost overruns and delays, the TVA board in April 2012 authorized a revised work schedule and $4.2 billion budget to complete the Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar by the end of calendar 2015. TVA President Bill Johnson said last week the project is 99 percent complete and "is on time and on budget" for its revised schedul adopted three years ago.
NRC spokesman Joey Ledford said there are three NRC resident inspectors backed up with a team of construction assessment and NRC inspectors at Watts Bar reviewing TVA's final tests and preparations to start up the new reactor this fall.
TVA's construction and startup staff, which numbered more than 3,200 a year ago, has dropped to under 2,000 and will continue to fall as TVA finalizes the plant work and goes through final tests.
Before an operating license is issued, the NRC must still inspect a number of plant systems and review staff procedures. The regional administrator, if satisfied, will recommend to Bill Dean, the NRC's director of nuclear reactor regulation, for a final decision on issuing the license.
The new reactor is capable of generating 1,150 megawatts of power - enough to supply the power needs of about 650,000 homes - and is a twin unit to the other Watts Bar reactor which began operation in 1996.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.