TVA to start using scrubbers at plant

KINGSTON, TENNESSEE - The Tennessee Valley Authority has begun operating two smokestack scrubbers at its Kingston Fossil Plant.

The scrubbers will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant's nine boilers, which can create sulfates that affect air quality.

Kingston was one of four coal-fired plants in Tennessee and Alabama involved in a federal lawsuit brought by North Carolina over air quality.

TVA said that five of its 11 coal-fired power plants have scrubbers installed. Construction on the two scrubbers began in 2006. The first scrubber at Kingston was completed in December and the second was completed in April for a total cost of $475 million.

TVA has reduced its total sulfur dioxide emissions by 91 percent since 1977 by operating scrubbers and burning low sulfur coal.

"We now have state-of-the-art control equipment on all of our units at Kingston, allowing us to generate the electricity needed by our customers," Kingston Plant Manager Leslie Nale said in a statement. "This translates into cleaner air in the Great Smoky Mountains and across the region."

TVA is the nation's largest public utility, supplying electricity to about 8.7 million consumers in Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.