Watts Bar 2

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 was the first new nuclear unit added to the U.S. fleet in more than 20 years. There were challenges along the way, but the colossal effort

The Watts Bar 2 nuclear unit has a lengthy and well-chronicled history. Construction began on the unit in 1973. It was suspended in 1985 due to slower electricity demand growth, rising construction costs due to inflation and new regulatory requirements stemming from the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, and regulatory concerns throughout the […]

Watts Bar 2, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) nuclear unit that began commercial operation last October, has been shut down indefinitely owing to a major issue with a condenser revealed this March. TVA spokesman Jim Hopson told POWER on May 11 that the reactor—the first new nuclear unit to begin operations in the U.S. in more than […]

Watts Bar Unit 2 began commercial operation on October 19.