NUKE PLANT: Power uprate modifications underway

Published 5:30 am Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Operators at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant are modifying Unit 1 at the plant as part of an ongoing project to generate more power.

The unit was taken offline early Sunday as part of a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. During the outage, operators will install 332 new nuclear fuel assemblies so the unit will operate at Extended Power Uprate conditions.

When complete, Unit 1 will become the second of the three Browns Ferry units to generate an additional 155 megawatts of electricity for a total of 1,311 megawatts. In July, Unit 3 began operating at the new EPU power rating and final EPU modifications will be installed on Unit 2 next spring.

Once all three units are operating at EPU power levels, Browns Ferry will generate up to 3,933 megawatts of electricity. The additional 465 megawatts of electricity generated from EPU is enough to power an added 280,000 homes.

TVA expects to invest $475 million to implement EPU at Browns Ferry.

Prior to the outage, Unit 1 had operated continuously for 499 days. Lang Hughes, Browns Ferry site vice president, said this outage and the next two would be used to complete the remaining EPU modifications.

“Outages are our best opportunity to do the necessary work that prepares the unit to safely and reliably generate carbon-free electricity for the next two years,” he said.

Browns Ferry’s regular staff will be supplemented by more than 2,000 additional TVA and contract employees during the outage. More than 14,700 work activities are scheduled, including maintenance and upgrades of plant equipment, inspections and repairs on reactor components and installing modifications to improve safety margins.

TVA’s seven operational nuclear reactors supply about 40 percent of all electricity used by nearly 10 million people in the Tennessee Valley.