A security guard armed with a rifle checks the identification of a motorist entering TVA’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in September 2001.In the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, TVA has spent more than $100 million to beef up security at its three nuclear plants.
It has spent millions more to protect its 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal plants, four gas plants, its power grid system with 17,000 miles of transmission lines and offices in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Muscle Shoals, Ala.
“Since that time, we’ve continued to make changes,” said David Jolley, vice president of TVA police and physical security. “If you think about it, there are several ways we can get attacked. There’s physical attacks; there’s insider [grid or safety system] attacks; there’s cyber attacks.”
Even on the day of the attacks, TVA activated emergency operations centers and beefed up security gates, he said, but soon it became clear that was just the beginning of changes that would become constant and evolving.
Tennessee Valley Authority security must include not only its power-generating plants in seven states, but also its 20 other dams and 14 locks on reservoirs along and near the 652-mile Tennessee River.