TVA restarts Sequoyah reactor after planned maintenance outage

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) said on Tuesday that Unit 2 at the Sequoyah Nuclear Generating Station, near Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, has completed refueling and maintenance in a planned outage.

The unit has been restarted and will be brought back up to full operational capacity gradually.

“The entire Sequoyah team, supported by more than 700 supplemental contract workers, successfully completed approximately 10,000 activities while working more than 138,000 man-hours,” Chris Schwarz, Sequoyah site vice president, said. “Their efforts will ensure that the Sequoyah plant can continue to safely and reliably serve the people of the valley.”

A total of 80 fuel assemblies at the plant were replaced; the unit houses 193 fuel assemblies. This outage also provided staff and auxiliary workers the opportunity to carry out maintenance projects that could not be done while the facility is operating. The TVA said the rebuilding of a turbine and replacement of a main steam valve and coolant pump rotor were among repair projects that were completed.

Currently, the TVA operates six nuclear reactors in the area. Approximately 9 million people are supported by electricity generated through TVA generation facilities. The TVA said the Sequoyah reactor can generate enough electricity to power 650,000 typical homes in the U.S.