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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized the reinstatement of the construction permits for Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) unfinished Unit 1 and 2 reactors at the Bellefonte site near Scottsboro, Ala. In 2006, having decided not to complete construction of the reactors, TVA requested that NRC withdraw the construction permits for the two Bellefonte units. However, in August 2008 TVA, citing changing power-generating economics, stated that completing the Bellefonte reactors may now be viable and requested that the NRC reinstate the permits. If the Bellefonte construction permits had remained in place, they would not have expired until 2011 and 2014, respectively. TVA also requested that the permits be reinstated with the reactors classified in the "deferred" status - a category indicating a plant's structures, equipment and records have been well maintained in a mothballed condition. The Commission denied that portion of the request. "The Commission Policy Statement on Deferred Plants is clear and demanding with respect to the condition of the facilities and the quality of plant records. The Bellefonte reactors simply do not meet that threshold right now," said NRC Chairman Dale Klein.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

NuStart Energy Development has picked a Georgia nuclear plant over the Bellefonte site near Scottsboro as its pilot project for a new generation of reactors. But the Tennessee Valley Authority said it will continue pursuing federal approval to build and operate Units 3 and 4 at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. TVA said Thursday that NuStart "is transferring the reference designation" to build two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors from Bellefonte to Southern Co.'s Plant Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Ga. "The change," it said, "is designed to align industry and regulatory resources with a license application that has specific, near-term construction plans." Atlanta-based Southern, parent of Alabama Power, anticipates getting a license to build and run the two new reactors in 2011 and having them online by 2016. TVA is looking at getting a license for Bellefonte in 2012 and having its two units ready by 2018. The Nuclear Regulatory Association must approve all new reactors.

"A North Carolina environmental group is seeking to sway local officials from Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Scottsboro supporting completion of Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Scottsboro or the construction of a new nuclear plant next to it. "We don't want to see mistakes repeated here," Lou Zeller, science director for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, told the Scottsboro City Council Monday, referring to the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pa. But Jack Bailey, vice president of Nuclear Generation Development at TVA, said in an interview Tuesday the public will have "nothing to fear" if a nuclear plant becomes operational at Bellefonte."

The Tennessee Valley Authority continues its way on a troubling path of the unknown with nuclear power plants. Given all the potential ramifications of flaws at any nuclear power facility, the public has good reason to question the path taken by TVA. Among the most recent concerns about TVA operations are questions about the design for potential new nuclear reactors at the Bellefonte nuclear power site near Huntsville, Ala. TVA is seeking a license to build a plant based on a new design, the AP-1000 Westinghouse, but environmental groups say while the licensing process goes forward changes are being made to the design. Advertisement TVA insists the changes in the design are only peripheral to the basic plan. Design changes include changes to the pressurizer; changes in the seismic analysis involving rock and soil conditions; changes in instruments and a redesign of fuel racks. Advocates of the licensing process say the design changes at issue are only the kinds of items that can be carried easily on a parallel track with the application process. The basic design is said to be a simpler version of a nuclear reactor. The design is significant because if and when it is approved for Bellefonte, it streamlines the process for other plant sites that might want to build on a Bellefonte model.

"The Tennessee Valley Authority has issued the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the generation options associated with Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in north Alabama. With the statement final, four of five detailed studies are complete to support a future decision by the TVA Board of Directors about building or completing a reactor at Bellefonte. "Completing a nuclear unit is one option that would help us meet our customers' growing needs and provide a reliable and safe power source at significantly less cost per installed kilowatt than other generation options," said Ashok Bhatnagar, senior vice president of TVA's Nuclear Generation Development and Construction. "At the same time, additional nuclear generation leads to a reduction of our carbon footprint." The options being studied are whether to finish one of two partially built reactors at Bellefonte, build a newly designed Westinghouse Advanced Passive 1000 reactor there or take no action. "

Three groups are seeking to block plans to renew work on TVA's unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama, where two old reactors could be completed and two new ones built. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy asked federal regulators on Friday to suspend a request by the Tennessee Valley Authority to renew construction permits at Bellefonte.

Anti-nuclear activists said today that the Tennessee Valley Authority is overlooking potential problems from building new reactors at the Bellefonte plant site in Alabama. During a hearing before a federal regulatory panel, critics of the proposed new Bellefonte reactors claim that TVA is ignoring potential earthquake and sinkhole problems at the Hollywood, Ala., site. The environmental groups also question whether another two reactors on the Tennessee River might hurt aquatic life by heating up and draining part of the Tennessee River and harm the environment by creating more radioactive wastes.

In the first formal opposition to TVA's plans for nuclear power expansion, environmental groups have laid out their case against construction of two reactors at TVA's Bellefonte site in Jackson County, Ala. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and its chapter called the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team, along with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which has its headquarters in Knoxville, filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission late last week requesting a hearing on TVA's license application for the Bellefonte reactors.

"An advisory panel to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced it has rejected a petition to try to block construction of the original reactors at the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant. But in a 40-page opinion, a panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board agreed there are "several possible areas of concern" with the mothballed plant and a hearing should be held before any of the reactors ever begin power generation. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which suspended construction of the twin-reactor plant in 1988, still must get regulatory approval before any construction could begin, NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said. But he said the decision does allow TVA to conduct further tests and prepare to ask federal regulators to upgrade the construction permit to active status when, and if, it decides to finish the units. TVA is studying whether to finish the original reactors at Bellefonte or pursue building one of the new Westinghouse AP-1000 reactors."

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority said they are unsure how long a proposed AP1000 nuclear plant near here could be delayed after Westinghouse failed to show that certain parts of a shield building can withstand design basis loads. "Obviously, it won't make it shorter," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said this afternoon. NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said in a phone interivew that the shield building encloses the containment building, which contains the reactor. In a press release issued this afternoon, the NRC said it informed Westinghouse, the designer of the AP1000 proposed for Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, "that it has not demonstrated that certain structural components of the revised...shield building can withstand design basis loads."

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority said they are unsure how long a proposed AP1000 nuclear plant near here could be delayed after Westinghouse failed to show that certain parts of a shield building can withstand design basis loads. "Obviously, it won't make it shorter," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said this afternoon. NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said in a phone interivew that the shield building encloses the containment building, which contains the reactor. In a press release issued this afternoon, the NRC said it informed Westinghouse, the designer of the AP1000 proposed for Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, "that it has not demonstrated that certain structural components of the revised...shield building can withstand design basis loads."

Evaluating Feasibility of Existing Assets As Future Generation Resource TVA has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reinstate the construction permits for its two unfinished nuclear units at the Bellefonte site in North Alabama as part of efforts to evaluate the feasibility of completing them to meet future power needs. No decision has been made to complete the Bellefonte units or to add any base load generating units beyond completing Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, officials said.

Most recent model could be destined for Bellefonte site The expansion of nuclear power in the United States depends on the next generation of reactors that are to be standard in design, easier to manufacture, modern and safe. TVA's Bellefonte plant is scheduled - though no final agreement has been announced - to house two of the new reactors, the AP 1000, designed by Westinghouse.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended its deadline for public comment on a proposed twin-reactor nuclear power plant at TVA's Bellefonte site near Scottsboro until June 6, 2008. The 60-day extension, announced in the Federal Register, comes in response to a request by Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team (BEST), a local group associated with BREDL (Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League). Both groups oppose the use of nuclear power and BEST had complained that TVA's application for a COL (Combined Operating License) was incomplete

Twenty-one years after TVA halted work on Alabama's biggest construction project, Jackson County officials say they want the federal utility to restart the nuclear plant work to help power the local economy and the Tennessee Valley electricity grid. Ron Bailey, 61 and a former mayor of Scottsboro, said community leaders continue to support plans for a new reactor at Bellefonte - either by finishing the old or building new. "As a taxpayer and ratepayer, I can't help think what a waste of money it is to see that plant sitting there idle," Mr. Bailey said of the unfinished $4 billion complex in Hollywood, Ala. "But as an elected official and Chamber of Commerce supporter, I also see the plant as a tremendous opportunity for our future for both jobs and energy."

Twenty-one years after TVA halted work on Alabama's biggest construction project, Jackson County officials say they want the federal utility to restart the nuclear plant work to help power the local economy and the Tennessee Valley electricity grid. Ron Bailey, 61 and a former mayor of Scottsboro, said community leaders continue to support plans for a new reactor at Bellefonte - either by finishing the old or building new. "As a taxpayer and ratepayer, I can't help think what a waste of money it is to see that plant sitting there idle," Mr. Bailey said of the unfinished $4 billion complex in Hollywood, Ala. "But as an elected official and Chamber of Commerce supporter, I also see the plant as a tremendous opportunity for our future for both jobs and energy."

"Mr. Johnson said TVA "will decide by the end of the year" whether to finish the old or pursue the new option. When TVA suspended construction at Bellefonte in 1988, the Unit 1 reactor was judged to be nearly 90 percent complete."

The cost to build two nuclear reactors at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Bellefonte site in Alabama, 100 miles southeast of Nashville, could cost as much as $17.5 billion, more than double the estimate made last year. TVA put a range of $9.9 billion to $17.5 billion on the project in documents sent last month to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The amounts are much closer to what residents opposing the plant have said should be anticipated.

An environmental group urged a federal licensing board today to reject the Tennessee Valley Authority's plans for a second nuclear plant at its Bellefonte site near here beause it said the site is unstable. Louis Zeller, a representative of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, said there are sinkholes a mile or two from the proposed site. He also said TVA has failed to conduct any geological study of the site since doing one in 1970s for building Bellefonte's Unit 1 and 2.

A joint legislative committee Monday urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority to move forward with building a new twin-reactor plant next to the unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant in Jackson County. The Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Energy Policy unanimously adopted a resolution sponsored by Sen. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, supporting the action.

TVA has no estimates yet on the possible price tag for the four nuclear reactors it might want to build at its Bellefonte site in northern Alabama, TVA officials said Wednesday. TVA is seeking a license, with several partners, for two reactors on the site, where it partially built and then abandoned a nuclear plant years ago.