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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 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.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold public meetings Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Sweetwater, Tenn., to discuss the agency's review of an Operating License application for a second reactor at the Watts Bar site near Sweetwater, and the environmental issues the agency should consider in reviewing the application. The NRC will meet with the public from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 to 10 p.m. at the Magnuson Hotel, 1421 Murrays Chapel Road in Sweetwater. The NRC will transcribe the meeting, including any follow-up answers the staff provides after the meeting, and post the information on the agency's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/plant-specific-items/watts-bar/key-correspondence.html . NRC staff will be available for informal discussions with members of the public during "open house" sessions from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. No formal comments on the environmental review will be accepted during these open houses.

Tennessee Valley Authority, others express interest JACKSON --- The U.S. Energy Department is negotiating with the Tennessee Valley Authority and at least one other potential client to use mixed oxide fuels from a $4.86 billion facility under construction at Savannah River Site. The 600,000-square-foot complex, scheduled to open in 2016, will dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium by using small amounts to make fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Clay Ramsey, the National Nuclear Security Administration's MOX federal project director, said TVA has expressed strong interest in using the fuels in some of its six existing commercial reactors. TVA also has plans to complete a seventh reactor at Watts Bar and has proposed completing two more units at its Bellefonte site in Alabama.

Five environmental groups petitioned federal regulators Wednesday to block the only commercial nuclear reactor now under construction in the United States - an unfinished 1970s-era reactor the Tennessee Valley Authority is working to complete after three decades in mothballs. The groups claim TVA failed to consider the impact on the Tennessee River, public health and safety and the utility's need for more electricity when it revived a 1976 application for an operating license for the Watts Bar Plant Unit 2 reactor near Spring City, Tenn. "TVA keeps pushing for more nuclear reactors in spite of the massive cost overruns they always have when they build them," said Bill Reynolds, the nuclear committee chairman for the Sierra Club's Tennessee chapter.

Critics of TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant told regulators today that finishing another reactor is too risky and expensive. "The dangers are real and consequential," said Dr. Ross McCluney, a Chattanooga physicist and a member of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "I think TVA is a little off its rocker, proposing a 30-year-old nuclear power plant design with known safety problems." The Tennessee Valley Authority, which suspended construction of the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor in 1985, is the midst of a $2.5 billion program to finish the unit by 2012. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a hearing today on the environmental impact of finishing the Unit 2 reactor. TVA obtained a construction permit for Watts Bar in 1973, but the utility still must obtain an operating license once the reactor is finished. Today's hearing is part of the NRC's assessment of the plant.

Critics of TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant told regulators today that finishing another reactor is too risky and expensive. "The dangers are real and consequential," said Dr. Ross McCluney, a Chattanooga physicist and a member of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "I think TVA is a little off its rocker, proposing a 30-year-old nuclear power plant design with known safety problems." The Tennessee Valley Authority, which suspended construction of the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor in 1985, is the midst of a $2.5 billion program to finish the unit by 2012. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a hearing today on the environmental impact of finishing the Unit 2 reactor. TVA obtained a construction permit for Watts Bar in 1973, but the utility still must obtain an operating license once the reactor is finished. Today's hearing is part of the NRC's assessment of the plant.

Opponents raised environmental concerns Tuesday about the Tennessee Valley Authority's plans to finish a second nuclear reactor at its Watts Bar site in Tennessee. The Sierra Club, the Tennessee Environmental Council and others told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they worry the only commercial reactor now under construction in the United States will harm the Tennessee River and endanger surrounding communities. They suggested TVA's massive coal ash spill upriver at Kingston is a reflection of the federal utility's management and that the 1960s-designed reactor will be out-of-date before it's even finished.

Opponents raised environmental concerns Tuesday about the Tennessee Valley Authority's plans to finish a second nuclear reactor at its Watts Bar site in Tennessee. The Sierra Club, the Tennessee Environmental Council and others told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they worry the only commercial reactor now under construction in the United States will harm the Tennessee River and endanger surrounding communities. They suggested TVA's massive coal ash spill upriver at Kingston is a reflection of the federal utility's management and that the 1960s-designed reactor will be out-of-date before it's even finished.