The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the construction permit for Bellefonte unit 1, a reactor project brought back to life by the Tennessee Valley Authority this summer more than two decades after it was abandoned.
In a release, the NRC reported the new permit is valid until Oct. 1, 2020. Permits for both reactors at the site were withdrawn in 2006 and then reinstated three years later as TVA began exploring the benefits of completing them. The NRC changed the status of the permits from “terminated” to “deferred” in 2010. Even with the extension announced Friday, the NRC release said, “TVA must re-establish control over the plant’s physical condition and records regarding the quality of Units 1 and 2 before the NRC will authorize a return to active construction.”
The TVA board in August decided completing unit 1 at the site was the best of several options, which at one time included building two new AP1000 reactors at the 1,600-acre site near Hollywood, Ala. Completing unit 1 is estimated to cost $4.5 billion to $5 billion, and Areva recently announced it has been contracted to equip the overhauled control room with its digital instrumentation and controls system.
Other upgrades will improve the efficiency of the 1,260 megawatt Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor that was estimated to be 90 percent complete when construction stopped in 1988. Other parts in need of replacement include those taken from the plant during an earlier asset recovery project that left the reactor 55 percent complete.