Plant operators at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Generating Station shut down reactor one after an unexpected problem with the condenser in a non-nuclear portion of the plant over the weekend. But the more significant news at the TVA facility involved Unit 2, which is over 90 percent completed and received a regulator panel's approval at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which puts it a step closer to receiving an operating license.
The NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, sent a letter to agency Chairman Stephen G. Burns that said, "there is reasonable assurance that WBN 2 can operate as the second unit of the dual unit Watts Bar Nuclear Plant without undue risk to the health and safety of the public.”
Getting through the panel review was a major regulatory step, said TVA Chief Nuclear Office Joe Grimes. He called it a “major milestone that will bring clean, reliable energy and economic benefits to TVA, the Tennessee Valley and the industry for decades.”
The review involved scrutiny of the results of hundreds of tests, thousands of pages of documents and six years of meetings and discussions, TVA said.
"While we have a significant amount of complex work remaining to complete Unit 2, we remain focused on delivering Unit 2 safely, with quality and in a manner to assure regulatory compliance and excellence in operations following licensing,” said senior vice president of Watts Bar Operations & Construction Mike Skaggs.
Construction of the new 1,150 MW capacity unit, which will be the first new commercial plant put online in the United States in 21 years, remains on its current schedule, which projects an operating start no later than June 2016, but no sooner than the third quarter of 2015.