Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Limestone County is in the process of a major upgrade to one of its nuclear reactors. As part of the project, the Tennessee Valley Authority property will be upgrading all turbines on its Unit 2 reactor as part of a maintenance and refueling outage.

Browns Ferry staff invited media members to tour the facility Friday in the first guided visit for press in a decade. The turbine upgrade project was one of the main stops on the circuit.

“Browns Ferry produces over 3,900 megawatts of carbon-free energy at this station,” said Matt Rasmussen, site vice president for the plant. “Last year, we made more electricity at this station than any other power plant other than one, and we’re going to catch up. And we did all that safely.”

Rasmussen said Brown Ferry has three boiling water nuclear reactors. He said each of them can operate for two years between refueling. Each reactor has 764 fuel bundles, a third of which are replaced every two years.

Each reactor has three turbines. According to information provided during the tour, the turbine upgrade includes brand-new replacement rotors and inner casings. Once completed, the turbines will be more reliable and more efficient.

“The turbine project is the largest project we have done at this station since it was constructed,” he said. “It is an investment we are putting into our facility. We just finished refueling the reactor.”

Keeping the lights on

Rasmussen said TVA has a diverse portfolio of energy production capability, including nuclear, hydroelectric, gas, solar and fossil fuels.

“Browns Ferry is in operation 95% of any two-year period,” he said. “Other production methods don’t stand up to that. From a reliability standpoint, we just make more power than anyone else. The sun isn’t always shining, the wind isn’t always blowing, and fossil fuels are bad for the environment.”

Rasmussen said some of advantages of nuclear power are it being carbon free, the low cost after the initial build and it having extremely high capacity. He said TVA powers 10 million people across seven states, and 20% of the company’s net electricity production is produced at Browns Ferry.

“I love the fact that we are using the power of the atom to power the new space age that is happening in this area,” he said.

According to the company, Browns Ferry is its first and largest nuclear site. The first of its three reactor units went online Dec. 20, 1973. However, Rasmussen said “very little” of the plant is the same as in 1973 due to the number of upgrades that have been made.

To make sure everything runs smoothly and correctly, Rasmussen said employees receive constant training to keep the “tip of the spear sharp.”

“What we’re most proud of here are the people that maintain and operate the plant,” said Tim Rausch, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer for TVA. “It is one heck of a team that works together every day. I believe we have the best operating nuclear fleet in this country.”

Rausch said TVA wants to keep operating what it has safely and reliably, and the company wants to grow its nuclear capability when and if the time is right.