The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Watts Bar 2 nuclear unit was listed at 100% power during the morning of Sept. 28 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
It is apparently the first time that NRC data has shown the recently-completed nuclear reactor at 100% power.
TVA had announced Sept. 26 that it connected Watts Bar 2 to the grid and resumed power generation testing at the 1,150-MW facility. The unit had been offline following Aug. 30 fire that damaged one of the unit’s main transformers at the switchyard.
TVA connected the long-anticipated Watts Bar 2 to the grid in early June and has been testing its ability to generate power at increasingly higher levels. It has not yet been classified as being in “commercial operation.”
TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson has said that commercial operation is largely an “accounting term” that distinguishes capital expense projects from “operating and maintenance” expenses.
