The idle Bellefonte Nuclear Plant is seen in Hollywood, Ala., June 8, 2006. The Tennessee Valley Authority board meets Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, in Huntsville, where it is expected to give the green light to building up to two new nuclear reactors at the mothballed Bellefonte site near Scottsboro. (AP Photo/Huntsville Times, Dave Dieter, File)Bellefonte at a glance
Location: On the banks of the Tennesee River in Hollywood, Ala Owner: Tennessee Valley Authority Original units: Twin Babcock and Wilcox pressurized water reactors never finished Proposed units: Two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors never started History: Construction of original units began in 1974, work was suspended in 1988. In 2007, TVA began planning for AP1000 units, initially as a substitute for the older, idled units
Next generation nuclear
U.S. utilities applied in the past decade for permits for 25 next generation nuclear reactors, but only four are now being built: * Two Westinghouse AP1000 units are being added at both the Vogtle plant in Georgia and the Summer plant in South Carolina. * A combined operating license has been granted for a ESBWR (economic simplified boiling water reactor) at the Fermi plant in Michigan, but construction has not begun. * Six other AP1000 units and four other designs are still under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including the two units at Bellefonte * Nine other next generation reactors once planned have been suspended or scrapped. Source: Nuclear Energy Institute
Even though it has no need for its power anytime soon, the Tennessee Valley Authority is still keeping its options open for building next generation reactors at the Bellefonte nuclear plant in Alabama.
But anti-nuclear groups want the utility to drop its plans for the new units since a newly adopted power plan suggests TVA won't need the power for another two decades and even then there could be other less costly or better options.
During a hearing Friday before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, critics of the new Bellefonte units questioned why TVA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should continue to devote resources for an idea the federal utility may never pursue. At this point, TVA doesn't even have any plans to complete the unfinished first two units it began building at Bellefonte more than 41 years ago.
"As revealed in TVA's 2015 Integrated Resource Plan, the time frame for possible license application is troubling long," said Louis Zeller, executive director for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.
But TVA attorneys urged the advisory panel to the NRC to keep the application alive, although with less oversight while the units are not being actively pursued.
"TVA's position on Bellefonte remains unchanged," TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said Friday. "While our recent Integrated Resource Plan shows little need for additional baseload power beyond the completion of Watts Bar Unit 2 and planned updates to Browns Ferry, we will continue to preserve the Bellefonte facility for possible future development."
TVA is among a half dozen U.S. utilities that proposed building new nuclear power plants a decade ago only to find that the Great Recession and increased conservation and efficiency have lessened the demand for new power.
Among the 25 reactors proposed that would pursue next generation designs, only four are now being built. Georgia Power is adding two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at its Vogtle plant near Waynesboro, Ga., and South Carolina Electric and Gas is building two more units at its Summer plant in Jenkinsville, S.C.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., had urged utilities to build at least 100 new nuclear units but only a fraction of that number were ever pursued and most of them have been suspended or canceled amid the slowdown in power consumption.
TVA filed an initial application in 2007 to build two AP1000 reactors as a replacement to the original Babcock & Wilcox units that were never finished. At the time, TVA determined the new reactors could use some of the water intakes and cooling towers from the original plant but have a safer and more efficient new design than the original B&W reactor design, which dates back nearly a half century.
The application for the new units is under "suspended status," NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said.
"At this point, we are not extending any resources reviewing the application because TVA has told us they have no immediate plans to proceed," Hannah. "The application has not been withdrawn. But it is suspended for now."
Since mothballing the original plant reactors in 1988, TVA has pursued options from using Bellefonte to make nuclear bomb material, to converting the plant to other forms of energy, to simply junking the plant and selling its component parts. TVA is maintaining those units for possible future power generation, but TVA President Bill Johnson said he doesn't foresee resuming work on the units anytime soon.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfree press.com or at 757-6340.