America’s first new nuclear power plant to be added to the grid in the 21st century shut down this week for the second time in three weeks, shortly after the unit reached its highest power output so far on Monday.
While the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor was generating more than 390 megawatts – one third of its rated power – the unit experienced problems in its auxiliary feedwater system, which automatically tripped the reactor. TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said Tuesday the equipment performed as designed and the utility expects to have Watts Bar Unit 2 back online by the end of the week and at full power as a commercial nuclear unit later this summer.
The addition of a second reactor at Watts Bar is the seventh nuclear unit for TVA and the first new nuclear reactor in the United States since TVA started the sister unit at Watts Bar in 1996.
The addition of another unit at Watts Bar will help replace some of the power generated by the 18 aging coal units TVA shut down or plans to soon shutter across its seven-state region. TVA also has added more natural gas-fired generation to capitalize on cheaper gas prices.
Despite the closing of coal-fired units at Widows Creek and Colbert in Alabama during the past year, TVA officials said they expect to easily meet this summer’s power demand. As summer arrived this week, temperatures are already hitting the 90s, pushing up power demand as air conditioners worked to keep homes and offices cool. But TVA doesn’t expect power usage this week to exceed the peak demand of 28,947 megawatts reached last Thursday when temperatures were in the upper 90s in parts of the TVA region.