NRC to hold open meeting on Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

The Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station in Rhea County, Tenn.
The Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station in Rhea County, Tenn. | Courtesy of the NRC and Tenn. Valley Authority

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that there will be a meeting to discuss the results of an inspection at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant that will take place July 27.

The meeting will take place at the Comfort Inn at Decatur Pike in Athens, Tennessee, from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

NRC staff will go over a recent inspection of the reactor running at the plant and discuss construction of a second unit at the plant, the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor, and what steps would need to be taken for the commission to award an operating license for the new reactor unit.

The Watts Bar Plant is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and is near Spring City, Tennessee, approximately 60 miles from Knoxville. The NRC inspection did not find any issues or alarming developments at the plant. 

Work on both the current unit and Unit 2 began when the plant was being established. The proposed unit had its construction halted in 1985 and restarted in 2007. The NRC states that if the new reactor meets all requirements, it will likely be the first reactor to go online since 1996.

This meeting is open to members of the public.