Watts Bar-2 Targets Commercial Operation In First Quarter Of 2016

30 Oct (NucNet): The Watts Bar-2 nuclear plant, which is nearing completion near Knoxville in Tennessee, is likely to begin commercial operation in the first quarter of 2016, but the important thing is “not when we get it done, but that we do it the right way”, Tennessee Valley Authority president and chief executive officer Bill Johnson said during a Q&A at the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). Mr Johnson said: “We will put power on the grid before we go to commercial operations, which is actually an accounting term.” Mr Johnson said one of the conclusions of the company’s long-term integrated resource plan is that “when we finish what we are currently building, we will not need to build any new baseload [capacity] until the early- to mid-2030s”. He said TVA has great interest in small modular reactors and is preparing a site that will be ready when the market has an offering. He said so far, there is no SMR design to purchase. “As for the unfinished Bellefonte reactor site in Alabama, we will not need a large baseload unit for the next 15 years or so. We will continue to keep that as an option but are not pursuing it actively.” Last week the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued TVA with a 40-year operating licence for Watts Bar-2. The NRC said Watts Bar-2, a 1,165-megawatt Westinghouse pressurised water reactor unit, is the first US reactor it has authorised to operate since 1996, when it issued the licence for Watts Bar-1. The Unit 2 licence allows operation until 22 October 2055. See the NEI’s website for more from the Q&A: http://bit.ly/1MZbd9o