The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is requesting that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reinstates the construction permits for two unfinished reactors at its Bellefonte site in Alabama. It continues to pursue regulatory approval for two further units at the site. Bellefonte 1 (1213 MWe, 88% complete) and 2 (1213 MWe, 50% complete) are pressurized water reactors. The TVA has budgeted $10 million this year to evaluate resuming construction of Bellefonte 1 and 2.
TVA restarted construction of Watts Bar 2 on October 15, 2007, with the reactor expected to begin operation in 2013. [1177MW reactor that was 50% complete].
[Welcom Instapundit readers: Instapundit had a link to Knoxville Business news coverage on the potential construction restart The construction restart could save $1-4 billion on the cost of each nuclear reactor versus new construction.
TVA also completed construction and restarted the Browns Ferry reactor in 2007.
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