DECATUR, Ala. – The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant has returned the Unit 2 reactor to service following a 27-day scheduled refueling and maintenance project.

“The Browns Ferry team did an excellent job coming together to successfully complete Unit 2’s refueling outage,” Site Vice President Keith Polson said. “Their work ensures that plant equipment is even more reliable and that Unit 2 is ready for the next two-year cycle.”

During the outage, completed Friday, April 10, the Browns Ferry team logged approximately 193,000 man-hours of work activities, including the installation of 260 new fuel assemblies in the Unit 2 reactor core. In all, 12,250 work activities were completed to help improve Unit 2’s overall levels of safety and reliability.

An additional 830 TVA and contract employees supported the outage, supplementing the site’s regular staff.

“I’m very proud of everyone for their tremendous work in improving the performance and reliability of Brown Ferry,” said Polson. “Their hard work and dedication is a reflection of their commitment to providing safe, reliable power to the people of the Tennessee Valley.”

At full capacity, Browns Ferry’s three units generate a combined 3,300 megawatts of electricity, which is 10 percent of TVA’s total generation capacity and enough electricity to power 2 million homes. TVA also operates two units at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, and one unit at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tennessee, where a second unit is scheduled for completion in late 2015.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.