TVA Nuclear Plants Ranked as Low-cost Producers Over 3-Year Period
July 28, 2005
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – TVA’s Browns Ferry and Sequoyah nuclear plants had the lowest production costs for 2002-2004 of all U.S. nuclear plants reporting their costs, according to Nucleonics Week, an industry publication.
Browns Ferry and Sequoyah ranked first and second, respectively, for the three-year period. Browns Ferry produced power at 1.239 cents per kilowatt- hour, with Sequoyah producing power at 1.248 cents per kWh, compared to the reported industry three-year average of 2.068 cents per kWh. TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant’s three-year average production cost of 1.523 cents per kWh ranked third for single unit plants.
“TVA Nuclear employees are focusing on making equipment more reliable by upgrading components and discovering new and improved ways of performing preventive maintenance,” said TVA Chief Nuclear Officer Karl Singer. ”The results are fewer unplanned outages and power reductions and better overall performance by the nuclear units. In fact, in 2004, TVAN set a new record for generation with 47.07 million megawatt-hours.”
The Nucleonics Week rankings are based on information provided by 39 of 65 nuclear sites--about 60 percent.
TVA operates five nuclear reactors at three generating sites – one reactor at Watts Bar in Spring City, Tenn., two reactors at Sequoyah in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., and two reactors at Browns Ferry in Athens, Ala. TVA is working to restart a third reactor at the Browns Ferry site.
TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider and is completely self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve approximately 8.5 million consumers in seven southeastern states.
Media Contact
Kay Whittenburg, Chattanooga, (423) 751-7152
TVA News Bureau, Knoxville, (865) 632-6000
