SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. – The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Unit 1 is once again at 100% power after safely completing a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage, generating enough reliable, carbon-free energy for 650,000 Valley homes.

“Nuclear power plants are among the safest and most reliable sources of low-cost, clean energy that safeguards our region’s and nation’s energy security,” said Tom Marshall, Sequoyah site vice president. “The entire Sequoyah team, supported by our valued and highly skilled union and contract partners, safely completed more than 17,000 work activities during the outage, which has enabled us to continue to provide reliable, carbon-free electricity for the next 18-month operating cycle.”

In addition to replacing 81 of the unit’s 193 fuel assemblies, detailed inspections of various plant systems were conducted to confirm all components are fully able to perform their safety functions. Other major maintenance activities included replacing or refurbishing several motors, valves and other plant components, as well as several upgrades to further enhance safety and reliability.

 Sequoyah Unit 1 is one of seven operational TVA nuclear reactors. TVA’s nuclear fleet is the third largest in the nation, safely and reliably providing more than 40% of all electricity TVA generates. Combined with other parts of TVA’s diverse generation system, nuclear power is the major contributor to help achieve the agency’s carbon reduction targets and work to be net-zero by 2050.