Watts Bar Unit 2 license request submitted

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced Friday that it has submitted documentation to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that states its construction progress and requests an operating license for Watts Bar Unit 2.

The NRC requires that construction activities are completed to a significant degree in order to receive the license the NRC must be able to ensure that the unit's operation will not have an adverse effect on public health and safety.

"Completion of hot functional testing and submittal of the substantially complete notification are among the historic milestones that continue to be achieved at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant as Unit 2 is completed and tested the right way – safely, with quality and in a manner to ensure regulatory compliance and excellence in operations after licensing,” Mike Skaggs, senior vice president of Watts Bar Operations and Construction, said. “The successes are the result of hard work by everybody on the Watts Bar team and demonstrate our commitment to safely preparing Unit 2 for fuel load.”

Earlier this week the TVA reported that it had completed comprehensive testing of a majority of the operational systems.

Once online, the second unit of the Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station will be capable of producing 1,150 megawatts of electricity.