nuclear-news

Cutbacks as TVA struggles to revive Bellefonte Nuclear Power Station, Alabama

TVA cuts 530 jobs, spending on Ala. nuclear plant Knox News, RAY HENRY – Associated Press (AP)  June 12, 2013 The Tennessee Valley Authority will cut 530 jobs and trim millions of dollars in spending on its effort to revive a mothballed nuclear plant in Alabama, utility officials said Wednesday in a decision that calls into question the project’s future.

A total of 35 TVA employees and 495 contractors will lose their positions at the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Station northeast of Scottsboro, Ala. The budget will fall from $182 million to $66 million, a reduction of roughly 64 percent. Some of the affected TVA employees may be reassigned to other roles within the utility.

The decision comes as the price of natural gas has plummeted, making it difficult for the electric industry to justify the massive costs of new nuclear plants. Utilities in California, Florida, New Jersey and Wisconsin have either shut down plants or will halt operations in the future because they are too costly to repair or upgrade. While the industry proposed building a new wave of reactors just a few years back, only a handful are likely to be completed in the Southeast because of the same economics.

Finishing the first reactor at Bellefonte by 2020 was expected to cost roughly $4.9 billion……. Already, the TVA is under pressure to control its costs. An effort to finish another of its mothballed reactors at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn., was originally expected to cost $2.5 billion. Finishing the project may require as much as $2 billion more, according to utility estimates…… http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jun/12/tva-cuts-400-jobs-spending-on-ala-nuclear-plant/

June 13, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA