Completion of the second reactor at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar nuclear plant will take three more years and an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion, TVA executives said Thursday.
The news follows the completion of a seven-month construction review that updates the original cost estimate for completing the 1,180 megawatt Westinghouse reactor mothballed in 1988. Plans approved in 2007 envisioned the unit’s completion this year at a cost of $2.49 billion.
“Our estimates on time and cost were wrong,” TVA CEO Tom Kilgore said in a release. “While our intentions were well founded, our execution and progress reviews were not.”
In October, TVA renegotiated its agreement with Bechtel, which had been awarded a $1 billion contract at the site. The government-owned utility took over more management responsibilities for the project, and the changes resulted in about 800 layoffs.
Thursday’s announcement also spelled delays for TVA’s Bellefonte reactor completion project. TVA’s board approved construction at that site only after the first fuel load arrives at Watts Bar 2. In a separate action, it also voted to finance the $4.9 billion Bellefonte project through a leaseback arrangement contingent upon selling Watts Bar 2.
The board will be asked to approve the new Watts Bar 2 costs at its next meeting April 26.