Nuclear a major component of long-range plans

- While TVA backs off coal as a source of energy for power production, long-range planning efforts the utility has under way show the increased emphasis it plans to put on nuclear power to generate electricity for Tennessee Valley customers.

TVA is updating its Integrated Resource Plan, which looks at how TVA will meet energy demand over the next 20 years. A draft of the plan is available now and while Gary Brinkworth, TVA manager in charge of the effort, said it is likely to evolve further before a final version is ready for the agency's board of directors to consider in the spring, the general thrust of TVA's strategy is clear. The vision outlined in the plan's introduction calls for TVA to pursue three goals:

• Lead the nation in improving air quality. • Lead the nation in increased nuclear production. • Lead the Southeast in increased energy efficiency. By 2015, TVA plans to meet 1,900 megawatts of its energy needs through energy efficiency and demand response initiatives, 1,140 megawatts through nuclear power and 1,000 megawatts through gas. It intends to eliminate 1,000 megawatts of power produced by fossil plants by 2015. TVA already has announced it is idling nine coal-fired power units at three of its fossil plants.

Last week, TVA announced an initiative by the Tennessee Valley Corridor to promote the nuclear power industry in Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Nuclear Energy Coalition, formed from nuclear and economic development organizations through the Tennessee Valley Corridor, will partner with the Deloitte Consulting firm to do market analysis and develop business plans for growing regional nuclear supply chain opportunities resulting in new jobs, exploring possibilities for using new modular nuclear reactors in the region and meeting other goals. The Tennessee Valley Corridor is a coalition promoting science and technology assets in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.

TVA held a public meeting recently to outline the Integrated Resource Plan and a questioner, responding through a Webinar held in conjunction with the meeting, asked TVA officials why the agency was pursuing nuclear power so aggressively. Van Wardlaw, TVA executive vice president of enterprise relations, said a prime reason is that TVA already has laid a good foundation to build upon.

"TVA has a unique advantage in that it has invested quite a bit of money over the years in nuclear infrastructure, at the Bellefonte site and other sites, so there are already structures in place that we can build from to add nuclear capacity," he said.

Presently, TVA's nuclear system, with a capacity of 6,900 megawatts, includes three reactors at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in northern Alabama, two at the Sequoyah plant near Chattanooga and one at the Watts Bar nuclear plant in Spring City, Tenn. A second reactor at Watts Bar is scheduled for completion in fall 2012. TVA also has two partially completed reactors at its Bellefonte plant in Northeast Alabama and is conducting studies toward finishing those units. Also, although it has not committed to adding two additional units at Bellefonte, TVA is pursuing the licensing application process to do so.

The Integrated Resource Plan looks at seven possible scenarios for how power demand, the economy, environmental regulations and other factors might develop over the next decades and uses computer modeling to test five planning strategies to see which would provide the best results across the most scenarios. So far, results favor a strategy called the Diversity Focused Resource Portfolio, or Plan C. It calls for using a diverse range of energy options from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and others, plus energy efficiency and demand response measures, all for maximum flexibility.

Brinkworth emphasized that the plan will be tweaked with elements of the other strategies and planners will probably present several alternatives for TVA board members to consider. However, regardless of the strategy that gets picked, Plan C and most all of the others call for expanding TVA's nuclear program.

Plan C would bring a new reactor unit on line no earlier than 2018 and new units spaced at least four years apart. Watts Bar Unit 2 would be completed as scheduled, Bellefonte Units 1 and 2 would be completed by 2024, and depending on the scenario, as many as two more nuclear units would be added by 2029.

Brinkworth said it is difficult to predict the scope of any new nuclear construction beyond what TVA already has announced.

"Our preference is to focus on completing units that we already have started, such as at Bellefonte," Brinkworth said. "Our least-cost nuclear option is to put a new unit into one of our existing sites." TVA is considering the use of modular nuclear reactors, which can easily be added at existing facilities, he said.

"In the longer term, we are just gearing up to participate in small nuclear reactors," Brinkworth said.

These are a new generation of reactor, about one-third the size of traditional reactors, that are built in a factory rather than on-site, can be transported by truck or rail, and are much less expensive than a site-built reactor.

"It is possible down the road that as we get more experience with that technology that we may see more of those units become part of our resource mix," Brinkworth said. "One of the advantages is they are smaller and you can add them in smaller increments so you can match your units to your growth of demand."

Brinkworth was asked if TVA might put modular reactors at fossil plants where coal units have been idled.

"From what I understand they are small enough that you could probably do that," he said. "It is possible, but I don't know if we would do it or not."