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"The Tennessee Valley Authority reported today that nearly 1,000 gallons of water containing the radioactive isotope tritium spilled from a water storage tank at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant on Wednesday. In an incident report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today, TVA said plant personnel at the Alabama plant discovered that a small valve at the top of tank near the plant turbine building was leaking at a rate of about two gallons a minute early Wednesday. Don Jernigan, senior vice president of nuclear operation for TVA, said the federal utility is reporting the tritium leak to authorities under the industry's voluntary reporting guidelines."

TVA and other utilities have socked away money to shut down and clean up nuclear power plants once they're too old to function, but those trust funds are generally thick with stocks and other investments that have taken an economic beating. TVA's stash has seesawed over the years, losing or gaining more than $100 million at times, with a 9.7 percent drop to $983 million in March from six months earlier. Advertisement TVA officials would not venture what the agency may have lost in the last several economically cataclysmic weeks, saying it would be reflected in the annual report due out in December or January.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today that it has extended its construction permit for the unfinished Unit 2 at the Watts Bar nuclear power plant to March 31, 2013. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates Unit 1 at the plant about 10 miles south of Spring City, Tenn., requested the extension in May. TVA is spending $2.5 billion to complete a second reactor at Watts Bar. NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said the agency's staff "found no significant impact on the environment" to extending the construction permit until 2013 so the construction could be completed. Work at the unit began in 1974, TVA halted the project in 1985 and is restarting construction this year.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity for the public to request a hearing on whether good cause exists to reinstate the construction permits for the unfinished Unit 1 and 2 reactors at the Bellefonte site near Hollywood, Ala. The Commission in February authorized the staff to take the unique step of reinstating the permits, which the Tennesee Valley Authority had withdrawn in 2006. In August 2008, TVA asked the NRC to reinstate the permits. The Commission, after considering the technical, regulatory, and legal aspects of TVA's request, concluded that there is sufficient reason to allow reinstatement of the construction permits, using a conservative sequential approach to ensure the safety of doing so. The NRC staff issued an Order reinstating the permits, which returns the plants to a "terminated" status, meaning that TVA must provide significant additional information to show the plants could be upgraded to "deferred" status, which would be necessary to put the plants on a path to possible future construction. The docket numbers established for the permits are 50-438 and 50-439.

"Federal regulators warned the Tennessee Valley Authority on Thursday about "apparent violations" involving fire safety at the utility's Browns Ferry nuclear plant in north Alabama. Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the findings don't pose an immediate safety risk but are urging TVA to fix the three-reactor plant, which suffered a nearly disastrous fire in 1975 and later had to shut down for more than two decades due to problems. The latest concerns were raised in an NRC inspection report and accompanying letter to TVA that said equipment necessary for shutting down the plant in case of a fire was not properly protected. The NRC said the plant also had flawed procedures that could delay fire response. "

"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."

Arjun Makhijani urges utility to seek other sources SCOTTSBORO - An energy analyst whose advice was instrumental in the Tennessee Valley Authority canceling eight reactor projects in the 1970s and '80s said the utility's plan for more nuclear plants now is a mistake. "Why is TVA leading a charge again" toward a nuclear power program that led to an indebtedness of more than $25 billion 20 to 30 years ago, Dr. Arjun Makhijani asked at a news conference Wednesday.

The Tennessee Valley Authority's $30 billion debt limit could be strained if the federal utility decides to build more nuclear plants. TVA's debt now totals about $25.2 billion. The agency has been able to cut its debt by more than $2.5 billion since 1997. Still, this leaves less than $5 billion for new capital projects. Two former TVA chairmen, S. David Freeman and Craven Crowell, worry the federal utility will be forced to ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling if it decides to build new reactors at the Bellefonte site in Alabama and undertakes new pollution controls for its fleet of coal-fired power plants.

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.

TVA wants to increase the power output of each of the three nuclear reactors at its Browns Ferry plant by 15 percent, a move that could raise questions about safety. Getting 15 percent more electricity is a big increase compared with most other such undertakings at nuclear plants around the country. Some plants have been damaged by increased vibrations, but no radioactive materials escaped, officials have said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation's largest public power company, is vulnerable to cyber attacks that could sabotage critical systems that provide electricity to more than 8.7 million people, according to a Government Accountability Office report to be released today.

DOE and federal utility Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, will work together to provide Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman with the data he will need to determine a path forward by the end of the year for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program, DOE said April 24.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, along with the U.S. Department of Energy, could announce as early as Monday a plan to develop a nuclear waste recycling center that could demonstrate a technology many experts believe can address the growing problem of spent nuclear waste, according to a Congressional source. In the agreement, which has yet to be finalized, TVA would explore recycling spent nuclear fuel, common in other countries, but nearly unheard of in the U.S.

The United States maintains a hardline policy opposing countries' use of civilian nuclear reactors to produce material for weapons, including Iran and North Korea. But that is what the U.S. Department of Energy has been doing at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar reactor in East Tennessee since 2003, and now the department has signaled its intention to start additional production of tritium at TVA's Sequoyah plant, near Chattanooga. Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, is needed to boost the explosive power of nuclear warheads. The DOE's 2010 budget proposal includes plans to make tritium at the two Sequoyah reactors, and TVA spokesman Terry Johnson confirmed that the electricity-generating plant is being prepared for the production of the weapons material.

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.

The amount of radioactive waste and spent fuel rods will continue to grow and be stored at TVA's three nuclear plants now that plans for a permanent storage site in Nevada have been shelved. TVA already stores almost 3,000 metric tons of nuclear waste at the Sequoyah plant in Soddy-Daisy; Watts Bar near Spring City, Tenn.; and Browns Ferry in Athens, Ala., according to utility officials. TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said on-site storage used at nuclear plants is a "proven, safe and secure solution for the foreseeable future." However, securing a permanent storage solution is "key" for the future.

When TVA canceled plans to finish its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant here in 2006, contractors began ripping out steel tubes and pipes from heat exchangers, steam generators and main condensers to sell for scrap metal. Advertisement The salvage effort proved to be short-lived. Critics also say it was shortsighted and could leave ratepayers short-changed.

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."

"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. "

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."