Groups aim to stop TVA nuke plans
HOLLYWOOD, ALABAMA - Three groups sought to block plans to renew work on TVA's unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama, where two old reactors could be completed and two new ones built.
The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy asked federal regulators to suspend a request by the Tennessee Valley Authority to renew construction permits at Bellefonte.
The groups said TVA has not addressed the possible environmental impact of work at Bellefonte, along the Tennessee River at the town of Hollywood.
The utility had no immediate response. TVA has not decided whether to finish the two existing reactors at Bellefonte, which was never completed, but it is considering such a project.
Ken Clark, a spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the government was in the early stages of reviewing requests to reinstate construction permits for the unfinished Bellefonte reactors and to possibly build two more reactors at the plant.
"There have been no decisions yet," he said. "It's all under consideration."
TVA supplies electricity to about 8.8 million consumers in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Related News
Aging U.S. power grid threatens progress on renewables, EVs
WASHINGTON - After decades of struggle, the U.S. clean-energy business is booming, with soaring electric-car sales and fast growth in wind and solar power. That’s raising hopes for the fight against climate change.
All this progress, however, could be derailed without a massive overhaul of America’s antiquated electric infrastructure – a task some industry experts say requires more than $2 trillion. The current network of transmission wires, substations and transformers is decaying with age and underinvestment, a condition highlighted by catastrophic failures during increasingly frequent and severe weather events.
Power outages over the last six years have more than doubled in number…
