Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant
| Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant | ||
|---|---|---|
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 35 ° 36 '8 " N , 84 ° 47' 29" W | |
| Country: | United States | |
| Data | ||
| Owner: | Tennessee Valley Authority | |
| Operator: | Tennessee Valley Authority | |
| Project start: | 1973 | |
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Active reactors (gross): |
2 (2418 MW) | |
| Energy fed in in 2007 2016: |
10,049 GWh | |
| Energy fed in since commissioning: | 87,808 GWh | |
| Website: | The nuclear power plant on the side of the operator (English) | |
| Was standing: | June 2016 | |
| The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation . | ||
The Watts Bar nuclear power plant consists of a reactor for electricity and tritium production for nuclear weapons and a purely civilian reactor. The power plant is named after a notorious sandbank on the island of Watts. It disappeared when the Tennessee was dammed into the Watts Bar Reservoir.
The entire facility is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It covers an area of 7.2 km 2 in the town of Spring City in Rhea County , Tennessee. This city is located between the cities of Chattanooga, Tennessee and Knoxville, Tennessee . The Watts Bar 2 reactor is so far the last civil reactor in the USA to go into commercial operation. Watts Bar produces electricity for approximately 250,000 residents of the Tennessee Valley.
Construction of reactor 1 with a Westinghouse generator began in 1973. Two reactors were originally planned. Reactor 1 was completed in 1996, the project suffered numerous delays and is believed to have cost about eight billion dollars by then.
Construction of Watts Bar 2 began in late 1972 and was about 60-80% complete when construction stopped in 1988. The official reason given was the decreasing demand for electricity. The decision was celebrated as a victory by the opponents of nuclear power. The reactor cost 1.7 billion US dollars until construction was halted. Reactor 2 was then used as a spare parts store for other TVA plants.
On August 1, 2006, the TVA decided to continue building the reactor. Further construction began on October 15, 2007 under the direction of the Bechtel Corporation . The regulator has issued a 40-year license that is valid until 2055. The planned costs should be 2.5 billion US dollars, in the end the costs of further construction were 4.7 billion dollars. Siemens received the order to overhaul or modernize the generator and to deliver several new turbines and other parts. Reactor 2 went critical for the first time on May 23 at 2:16 a.m. EDT . On June 3, 2016, reactor 2 was synchronized with the power grid, but was automatically shut down again after 2 days at an output of 12.5% because a valve on a high-pressure turbine did not open. On March 23, 2017, the reactor was shut down due to damage to the condenser from the first construction phase.
Tritium generation
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the license for Watts Bar in September 2002 so that the TVA can use special fuel rods for the production of tritium. The tritium was produced for the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security . The license allows the use of up to 240 of these fuel rods. It is planned to expand the license so that up to 2304 fuel rods can be used in Watts Bar-1.
The TVA began irradiating the rods in October 2003. The rods were removed in spring 2005. The DOE then drove the rods to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for tritium extraction . The TVA is reimbursed for the cost of the irradiation and a bonus for each fuel rod. The contract has a term of 30 years and also applies to the Sequoyah nuclear power plant . A production of 1.5 to 3 kg of tritium is expected. TVA will receive about ten million dollars for this. The core problem - a civil plant is used for military purposes - was also recognized, but put aside because of the additional costs that would otherwise arise for a military reactor.
Problems
The beginning of the TVA nuclear program was fraught with considerable problems. On October 27, 1986, Fortune Magazine reported that it had suppressed critical reports regarding the safety of Watts Bar. This involved violations of elementary safety precautions. Important welds were not X-rayed for reasons of cost. TVA engineers who found problems were also transferred to other posts. The organizer of the TVA nuclear program, former Admiral Steven White, was investigated. The five existing TVA reactors had to be shut down due to structural problems and problems with the level of training of the staff. More than 1,700 problems have been identified in Watts Bar alone.
In December 2016 it became known that Watts Bar was also affected by the Creusot Forge scandal over falsified certificates. Parts of the steam generator in Unit 1 come from the polluted Areva subsidiary.
Data of the reactor blocks
The Watts Bar nuclear power plant has a total of two blocks :
| Reactor block | Reactor type | net power |
gross power |
start of building | Network synchronization |
Commercial operation |
switching off processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watts Bar-1 | Pressurized water reactor | 1121 MW | 1202 MW | 01/23/1973 | 02/06/1996 | 05/05/1996 | |
| Watts Bar-2 | Pressurized water reactor | 1165 MW | 1218 MW | December 01, 1972 | 06/03/2016 | October 19, 2016 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=699
- ↑ https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=700
- ↑ a b https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-nuclear-shutdown-20170508-story.html
- ↑ information on Watts Bar 2 on the side of the operator (English)
- ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/rodadams/2016/10/19/watts-bar-is-now-commercial/#364fc5ab3680
- ↑ http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Watts-Bar-2-final-completion-cost-approved-0402167.html
- ↑ Siemens Power Generation - Siemens to refurbish and upgrade turbine island for the Watts Bar 2 Nuclear Power Plant (English)
- ^ Siemens wins Watts Bar 2 refurbishment project
- ↑ http://www.nuklearforum.ch/de/aktuell/e-bulletin/siemens-modernisiert-watts-bar-2-turbosatz
- ↑ http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-First-criticality-for-Watts-Bar-2-2405167.html
- ↑ https://www.tva.gov/Newsroom/Press-Releases/Watts-Bar-Unit-2-Produces-Electricity-for-the-First-Time
- ↑ http://www.worldnuclearreport.org/Watts-Bar-2-US-Grid-Connection-43-Years-After-Construction-Start-Shutdown-2.html
- ^ Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 1; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact (English)
- ↑ National Nuclear Security Administration - John A. Gordon Before the Subcommittee on Military Procurement ( Memento of the original of January 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ National Nuclear Security Administration - First Irradiated Tritium Rods Arrive At SRS ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Make power - and war; (English)
- ↑ NUCLEAR SCANDAL SHAKES THE TVA - October 27, 1986 (English)
- ↑ Ullrich Fichtner: Atomkraft. My friend, the kiln . DER SPIEGEL 29/2011
- ↑ https://nrcpublicblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/ml17009a275.pdf
- ↑ Power Reactor Information System of the IAEA : "United States of America: Nuclear Power Reactors - Alphabetic" (English)
- ↑ The construction of the reactor was stopped in 1988 and continued in 2007.
- ↑ http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Grid-connection-for-Watts-Bar-2-0606167.html
Web links
- Official website of the operator
- National Nuclear Security (English)
- Watts Bar 2 Nuclear Power Plant, Tennessee - Power Technology (English)
- US Nuclear Plants - Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (English)
- WISE - Accidents waiting to happen: Watts Bar (English)
- The death of no-dual-use (PDF, English)