TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Earns Highest Rating
Sept. 26, 2003
An evaluation by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations has concluded that TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant’s overall plant performance is “excellent.”
The rating, which is the highest achievable, indicates that industry standards of excellence are met in most areas with no significant weaknesses. It is the third consecutive time Watts Bar has earned the highest rating in plant performance from INPO since the plant began commercial operation in May 1996.
INPO is an industry organization that provides accreditation, evaluation, technical assistance, and specialized management training to commercial nuclear power plants.
“I commend Watts Bar employees for achieving this level of performance again,” said TVA Chief Nuclear Officer John Scalice. “We must maintain our focus on excellence in all that we do. The safe, reliable, and low-cost production of electricity is our No.1 priority. Nuclear power remains a competitive part of our nation’s energy policy because of improved industry performance, and we will, as a significant part of the industry, continue to strive for improved performance.”
TVA’s three nuclear plants — Watts Bar in Spring City, Tenn.; Browns Ferry in Athens, Ala.; and Sequoyah, near Chattanooga, Tenn. — all earned a rating of excellent from INPO when the plants were evaluated in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Nuclear plants are evaluated every two years.
“The nuclear power industry continues to raise the bar for performance standards, making it more difficult to maintain high ratings; excellence last year may become mediocrity today,” said Watts Bar Site Vice President Bill Lagergren. “I am proud to be a part of the Watts Bar team that wants to perform each task better than it did the day before. In the industry vernacular, we are a ‘learning’ organization.”
The INPO evaluation process promotes nuclear plant safety and reliability, and INPO teams use standards of excellence as a basis for all industry evaluations. The teams evaluate operating nuclear plants to assess knowledge and performance of station personnel, condition of systems and equipment, quality of programs, and procedures and effectiveness of station management.
TVA is the nation’s largest public power producer, and is completely self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve 8.3 million consumers in seven southeastern states.
Media Contact:
Carol Ayers, Spring City (423-365-1574) or TVA News Bureau, Knoxville (865-632-6000)
