By 2020 the government utility will generate 50% of its power from nuclear reactors
The fullest expression of the nuclear renaissance to date has been in 18 license applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) mostly by commercial utilities. In the middle of the pile, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is developing an interesting track record not only in bringing moth balled reactors back to life, but also planning new ones. A nuclear engineer looking for a chance to work on the "big iron" would do well to consider TVA as a place to work.
Two TVA projects define the government utility's future building nuclear power plants instead of using its historical fossil fuel of choice – coal. They are the second Watts Bar plant and the possible construction of at least one new nuclear reactor at the Bellefonte site. TVA also has the enviable record of financial success with its re-start of the Browns Ferry unit.
Read the complete story exclusively at CoolHandNuke, a nuclear energy employment recruiting service and a whole lot more.
Check it out.
# # #
2 comments:
Dan, In addition to the plan to build or complete one reactor at Bellefonte, and to complete Watts Bar Unit 2, TVA appears to intend to build a 125 MWe mPower Reactor with Babcock & Wilcox at the Clinch River Reactor site near Oak Ridge. I would hazard a guess that more than one mPower Reactors is a possibility, snd that TVA has given some thought to other sites.
There was a time 30+ years ago when TVA made similar claims and all it led to was 30 billion in debt and a continued reliance on coal, so I'm sure most people will be taking a "wait and see" mentality on this as well as all nuclear power development.
Also of note is the fact that in the near future the TVA board and the NRC commission will both be made of a majority of Obama nominees and given as the current administration is luke warm at best when it comes to nuclear (and has nominated an anti-nuclear lawyer to the TVA board) I find it highly unlikely that there will be much chance of anything coming from TVA after WBN2. TVA is a political entity and as such its decisions are made based on the political climate of the time. This is one of the big reasons TVA started building so many nukes only to cancel them as soon as an anti-nuclear president was elected. Jackzo (NRC chairman) voted against reinstating the construction permits at Bellefonte, and now he will be joined by another anti-nuclear commissioner which means that Bellefonte will never get off the ground. WBN2 will likely get an operating permit, but i'd bet the NRC is goign to impose many more restrictions on the construction as soon as the pro-nuclear majority is overturned.
Post a Comment