Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., is seen from above.NUCLEAR PLANTSAs the crow fliesSequoyah to Chattanooga: 17.6 milesWatts Bar to Chattanooga: 48.4 milesBrowns Ferry to Chattanooga: 105.3 milesBellefonte to Chattanooga: 41.8 milesSource: Google Maps Distance Calculator
A third of TVA’s six reactors — one at Sequoyah and one at Browns Ferry nuclear plants — have been given a bad grade by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to NRC’s newest annual assessment.
And TVA’s third operating nuclear plant, Watts Bar, has been flagged by the NRC for a security issue that neither TVA nor NRC is allowed to talk about, according to spokesmen with both agencies.
“As a fleet they have some issues they need to work to correct,” said NRC spokesman Joey Ledford. “We believe they are working to correct these issues, and the additional oversight that these plants are receiving should help.”
NRC bases its annual assessments of the nation’s nuclear plants on inspections and the performance track records of the reactors, according to an NRC blog signed by Kevin M. Roche, the NRC’s operating reactor performance assessment leader.