TVA Statement on Severe Weather and Nuclear Plants

TVA Statement on Severe Weather and Nuclear Plants

from NEI Nuclear Notes by Eric McErlain

The American Midwest and Southeast have been struck by tornadoes today. We just received the following statement from the Tennessee Valley Authority concerning the status of several nuclear power plants in their service:

TVA has activated its Transmission Emergency Operations Center to assess the damage and manage the response to today’s severe storms. At this time, TVA reports 10 transmission lines are out of service, with the most severe weather reported in North Alabama and Southeast Tennessee. The transmission system is stable and secure. All TVA customer connections are in service with the exception of five connection points for Volunteer Electric in Hamilton and Bradley counties.
Initial reports from Athens and Huntsville, Alabama, are that an estimated 44,000 customers are experiencing outages. We are aware of outages in other locations, but we do not have estimated customer numbers yet.

All three nuclear sites remain safe following the recent storms. The three units at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., are operating at full-power. Sequoyah Unit 1 in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., was shutdown February 27 for a scheduled refueling outage and will not be returning to operation until later this month. Sequoyah Unit 2 is currently at 80 percent power, due to transmission lines being out of service in the area of the plant. Watts Bar Unit 1 in Spring City, Tenn., is operating at full power.

TVA crews are assessing the damage as the weather permits and it is safe to do so.

We will provide additional reports as soon as we have information.

Please note that U.S. nuclear plants have endured this sort of real world stress test before. Click here for more.