nuclear-news

Amnerica’s newest nuclear power station too 42 years to finish

It Took 42 Years to Finish This U.S. Nuclear Power Plant, Bloomberg  Naureen Malik   HarryRWeber  22 Oct 15 

• Watts Bar Unit 2 given 40-year operating license by regulator
• First U.S. atomic reactor authorized in almost two decades

• Forty-two years and counting. That’s how long it’s taken to get America’s latest nuclear reactor up and running.

  The stop-start saga behind Unit 2 at the Watts Bar complex near Knoxville, Tennessee, moved a step closer to its conclusion Thursday when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the plant a 40-year operating license.

  The length of time it took to get to this stage bears witness to the headwinds that have buffeted the atomic industry over the decades. Work on the reactor was suspended in 1985 when the owner decided it wasn’t needed, especially in an era of low fossil-fuel prices. More recently, costly safety upgrades in the wake of the Fukushima disaster and competition from a flood of cheap natural gas have taken a toll.

   The go-ahead from the NRC clears the last remaining hurdle before the Tennessee Valley Authority can bring Unit 2 into service, at an estimated cost of about $6 billion. It’ll be the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. since TVA, the largest publicly owned U.S. power company, started running Unit 1 at Watts Bar in 1996. …….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-22/it-took-42-years-to-finish-this-nuclear-power-plant-in-the-u-s-

October 23, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA