TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1 returns to Power Generation

Tennessee Valley Authority’s announced that its Watts Bar Nuclear Plant returned Unit 1 to power production on May 9, after conclusion of refueling and maintenance outage to operate for the next 18 months.

In addition to replacing 80 of the unit’s 193 fuel assemblies, Watts Bar employees – supported by an additional 800 TVA and contract personnel – completed more than 10,000 work activities, including upgrades to Unit 1’s turbine, inspections of the unit’s reactor equipment and steam generators, maintenance of plant equipment and installation of additional enhancements to improve reliability.

At full capacity, Watts Bar’s two units produce more than 2,300 megawatts of low-cost reliable energy; enough power for 1.3 million average homes. Collectively, TVA’s seven nuclear units provide more than one-third of all the power used by the more than 9 million consumers in its seven-state service area.

Watts Bar Site Vice President Paul Simmons said that the work they performed in this outage puts Unit 1 in the best position to continue to safely generate carbon-free, low-cost energy around the clock. Their team members — our neighbors — are very proud of the work they do every day to safely serve the people and businesses of the Tennessee Valley.

Image Source: TVA