Mike Skaggs leads startup of first new nuke in America in two decades

Mike Skaggs, the 25-year nuclear engineer who oversaw the $4.7 billion completion of Watts Bar Unit 2, said finishing the new reactor near Spring City, Tenn., "was the most difficult, complex project I've every worked on."

Skaggs took over the project four years ago when he said it was about 40 percent complete and over budget. In October of 2016 - more than 43 years after work first began at Watts Bar - TVA completed the nuclear plant and declared the second reactor at Watts Bar a commercial asset.

The new reactor is the first new commercial reactor added to America's grid in more than two decades and TVA President Bill Johnson credits Skaggs for helping to get the long-delayed project across the finish line.

Watts Bar is the fourth reactor that Skaggs has worked to start or restart after a prolonged outage. With today's more intensive regulations on nuclear plants, Skaggs says that Watts Bar was by far the hardest project, involving more than 3,500 workers and contractors on site at the peak of construction.

Following the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant in Japan, TVA had to build a power backup building and make other dam repairs to help Watts Bar meet even stricter standards adopted by nuclear regulators to prevent a Fukushima-style disaster at a U.S. plant. That added about $200 million to the project.

But those changes and other upgrades make Watts Bar the most advanced of America's fleet of 100 nuclear units, even though it was originally designed a half century ago.

"It's as good of a plant as we have in the United States," Skaggs says.

Skaggs turned the plant over the TVA's operating staff this fall and took on a new role at TVA, helping to fill part of the responsibilities previously held by TVA's Chief Operating Officer Charles "Chip" Pardee who is retiring at the end of 2016.

In his new role as TVA's senior vice president of nuclear generation, development and construction,, Skaggs will oversee safety, transmission and power supply, river management, natural resources, supply chain, infrastructure, TVA police, and continuous improvement.

Skaggs earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas, and earned a senior reactor certification at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.