TVA board backs Bellefonte COL plan

28 September 2007

[TVA, 27 September] The board of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has approved submitting an application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined Construction and Operating Licence (COL) for two new nuclear units at the Bellefonte site in Alabama. Two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) were originally planned for the site, and construction began in the early 1970s, but the plants were deferred in the early 1980s and ultimately cancelled in 2005. The site is now being considered for an advanced nuclear reactor by the NuStart consortium of utilities and reactor vendors, of which TVA is a member. "We appreciate the role TVA is preparing to take on as our NuStart consortium nears completion of an application for a combined construction and operating licence for a Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design at TVA's Bellefonte site," NuStart Energy president Marilyn Kray is quoted saying in TVA's press release. At the beginning of August, TVO announced that its board had unanimously approved the completion of Watts Bar unit 2 in a five-year project costing an estimated $2.5 billion.

Further information

Tennessee Valley Authority

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

WNA's US Nuclear Power Industry information paper

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