Basically TVA cancelled lots of nuclear powerplants in the early 80s, and hasn't built a large hydro, coal, or nuclear plant since.
Because of that, they're running their coal plants way beyond their design lives (30 yrs).
If they had kept building, they'd have had 17 reactors by now.
TVA has six reactors today (thanks to the Browns Ferry 1 restart). They're actively building Watts Bar 2. But they could have had 17 reactors if they had stuck to their original program, and that would have let them get rid of most of their coal.
Here's how things COULD HAVE BEEN:
Yellow Creek 1 and 2 would have replaced Colbert (1198 MWe, finished 1965) and Allen (753 MWe, finished 1959).
Bellefonte 1 and 2 would have replaced Widows Creek (1629 MWe, finished 1965).
Watts Bar 2 would have replaced most of the infamous Kingston (1456 MWe, finished 1955).
Phipps Bend 1 and 2 would have replaced Bull Run (870 MWe, finished 1967) and John Sevier (712 MWe, finished 1957) and the rest of Kingston.
Hartsville 1, 2, 3, and 4 would have replaced Gallatin (988 MWe, finished 1959), Shawnee (1369 MWe, finished 1957), and Johnsonville (1254 MWe, finished 1952).
This would have left Cumberland (2530 MWe, finished 1973) and Paradise (2273 MWe, finished 1970) as the only coal plants on the TVA grid.
Grand total: 85,000 tons of coal each day that TVA wouldn't be burning. That would have been an incredible achievement.
A new TVA energy strategy
Basically TVA cancelled lots of nuclear powerplants in the early 80s, and hasn't built a large hydro, coal, or nuclear plant since.
Because of that, they're running their coal plants way beyond their design lives (30 yrs).
If they had kept building, they'd have had 17 reactors by now.
TVA has six reactors today (thanks to the Browns Ferry 1 restart). They're actively building Watts Bar 2. But they could have had 17 reactors if they had stuck to their original program, and that would have let them get rid of most of their coal.
Here's how things COULD HAVE BEEN:
Yellow Creek 1 and 2 would have replaced Colbert (1198 MWe, finished 1965) and Allen (753 MWe, finished 1959).
Bellefonte 1 and 2 would have replaced Widows Creek (1629 MWe, finished 1965).
Watts Bar 2 would have replaced most of the infamous Kingston (1456 MWe, finished 1955).
Phipps Bend 1 and 2 would have replaced Bull Run (870 MWe, finished 1967) and John Sevier (712 MWe, finished 1957) and the rest of Kingston.
Hartsville 1, 2, 3, and 4 would have replaced Gallatin (988 MWe, finished 1959), Shawnee (1369 MWe, finished 1957), and Johnsonville (1254 MWe, finished 1952).
This would have left Cumberland (2530 MWe, finished 1973) and Paradise (2273 MWe, finished 1970) as the only coal plants on the TVA grid.
Grand total: 85,000 tons of coal each day that TVA wouldn't be burning. That would have been an incredible achievement.