NRC approves restart of Browns Ferry 1
16 May 2007
[NRC, 15 May] Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has received authorization from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to restart its Browns Ferry 1 nuclear power reactor. Victor McCree, NRC's Region II Deputy Regional Administrator for Operations, said that "TVA has completed an extensive refurbishment of Unit 1 and the NRC staff has closely monitored their progress throughout the project." NRC inspectors have conducted an operational readiness inspection and determined that all corrective action programs and other programs had been implemented by TVA to support safe operations of the reactor. TVA started work on the three-unit plant in 1967, completing the boiling water reactors (BWRs) between 1973 and 1976. However, the company experienced operational problems and the commercial decision was made to shut the units down in 1985. After taking corrective measures, TVA restarted Unit 2 in 1991 and Unit 3 in 1995. Unit 1 is scheduled to return to service later in 2007 having been refurbished and uprated from 1100 MWe to 1155 MWe.
Further information
Tennessee Valley Authority
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
WNA's US Nuclear Power Industry information paper
WNN: TVA uprate returning reactor and consider more