Tennessee Valley Authority executives recently detailed ongoing job cuts at the federal utility as it undergoes a restructuring effort that will shrink its workforce by about 10 percent.
TVA is in year two of a three-year plan to reduce its operations and maintenance spending by $500 million to bring its costs in line with private competitors and tepid demand for electricity. While TVA didn't offer specifics on the staffing at its six reactors, details on cutbacks across the broader organization provide some indication of the direction the utility is headed.
"We’ve offered a voluntary reduction in force to employees and have seen a good response. About 750 employees took the voluntary package. We have about 1,000 positions that are vacant and will not be filled, and we also expect some involuntary operations later this year, and we’re still in the process of reorganizing our nuclear organization," CEO Bill Johnson said in a conference call Tuesday.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that buyout packages amount to one week's pay for each year of employment, with a 30-week maximum. TVA has paid $3 million in severance to date and plans to spend an additional $25 million this year. In October, TVA cut about 400 jobs associated with its Bellefonte reactor completion project, and the newspaper reported that a similar number of Bechtel contractors will be laid off at Watts Bar this summer.