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(For members) Retiring Bull Run, Paradise could save millions, more than $1 billion in ‘lifetime costs’

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The coal-burning Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton and Paradise Fossil Plant Unit 3 in Kentucky are not economical to operate, and retiring them will offer a savings of about $320 million and avoid more than $1 billion in capital costs, the Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday.

The TVA Board of Directors voted 6-1 to close Paradise Unit 3 and unanimously agreed to close Bull Run during a meeting in Chattanooga on Thursday. Paradise could close by December 2020, and Bull Run is expected to close by December 2023.

The Bull Run and Paradise closures will be the first 1,700 megawatts of coal plant retirements of the 2,600 megawatts that could be retired through 2033 under a 2015 integrated resource plan, TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson told the board.

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TVA board unanimously approves closing Bull Run Fossil Plant

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors unanimously agreed Thursday morning to close the Bull Run Fossil Plant, a coal-burning power plant in Claxton.

The single-generator plant is across the Clinch River from east Oak Ridge.

In another plant retirement, the board voted 6-1 Thursday to close the one coal-fired generator still operating, Unit 3, at the Paradise Fossil Plant near Drakesboro, Kentucky.

The vote on Paradise was 6-1 on Thursday, with board member Kenneth Allen dissenting.

Paradise Unit 3 could be retired in December 2020, and Bull Run could be closed December 2023, TVA said. Bull Run has been reported to be running at about 30 percent capacity for several years. [Read more…]

(For members) NRC finds no significant impact from producing tritium at Watts Bar 2

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Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on Monday that there would be no significant impact from producing tritium for nuclear weapons in a second unit at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant in Rhea County.

The project involves the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The tritium could be produced in Unit 2 at Watts Bar, which is near Spring City about 45 miles southwest of Oak Ridge.

Tritium, which boosts the yields of nuclear weapons, is already being produced in Watts Bar Unit 1. The Tennessee Valley Authority has been producing tritium there since 2003.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. 

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Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

TVA to brief Council on possible closure of Bull Run Fossil Plant

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority will talk to the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday about the potential closure of the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton.

The informational briefing is scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, February 11, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room at 200 South Tulane Avenue. [Read more…]

TVA confirms 2018 was wettest year

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The Tennessee Valley Authority is spilling or sluicing through gates at reservoirs including Chickamauga, pictured above, with heavy rain in the forecast from Thursday, Dec. 27, to Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority was spilling or sluicing through gates at reservoirs including Chickamauga, pictured above, with heavy rain in the forecast from Thursday, Dec. 27, to Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy TVA)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority confirmed Wednesday that 2018 was the wettest year in the Tennessee Valley in 129 years of record keeping.

There was a basin average of 67.1 inches of rain across the Tennessee Valley in 2018, TVA said.

The previous record was 65.1 inches in 1973.

The TVA rain gauge on Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina received 118.8 inches of rain in 2018.

The Tennessee Valley region normally averages 51 inches of rain a year. [Read more…]

TVA: 2018 sets record for rainfall in Tennessee Valley

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The Tennessee Valley Authority is spilling or sluicing through gates at reservoirs including Chickamauga, pictured above, with heavy rain in the forecast from Thursday, Dec. 27, to Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority is spilling or sluicing through gates at reservoirs including Chickamauga, pictured above, with heavy rain in the forecast from Thursday, Dec. 27, to Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy TVA)

 

A record amount of rain has fallen in the Tennessee River Valley in 2018, and the year isn’t over yet. The rain might not be either.

The previous record of 65.1 inches of rain was set in 1973. The record, based on 129 years of weather data, was announced by the Tennessee Valley Authority on Friday.

“As 2018 draws to a close, yearly rainfall totals for the TVA region continue to climb to near record levels, and the trend for above average rainfall totals continues right up to year’s end,” the public utility said.

“For the week before Christmas, rainfall averaged two inches in the eastern Valley and 1.4 inches in the western Valley,” said James Everett, senior manager for TVA’s River Forecast Center. “We began spilling and sluicing at several locations the day after Christmas to increase flows and increase flood storage capacity, and that will likely continue into the New Year.” [Read more…]

Earthquake in East Tennessee felt in Oak Ridge

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A U.S. Geological Survey Community Internet Intensity Map after a 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Decatur, Tenn., on early Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

A U.S. Geological Survey Community Internet Intensity Map after a 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Decatur, Tenn., early Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m.

The earthquake near Decatur early Wednesday morning was felt in Oak Ridge, according to social media reports. Oak Ridge Today readers reported feeling the earthquake in other communities such as Clinton, Hardin Valley, Harriman, Oliver Springs, Sevier County, and Atlanta.

The 4.4 magnitude earthquake was also felt in other areas across the Southeast, including in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Some people in the region described it as like a train or truck driving by, and they said homes shook, and doors and windows rattled. Some said it woke them up, and others said they didn’t feel it. (Oak Ridge Today did not feel it.)

The earthquake was reported about nine kilometers underground at 4:14 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was 11 kilometers north-northeast of Decatur. Oak Ridge is about 45 miles northeast of Decatur.

It was reported to be the largest in Tennessee since a 4.7 magnitude earthquake in Maryville in 1973 and the second strongest on record in East Tennessee. The Maryville earthquake 45 years ago was the strongest in East Tennessee. [Read more…]

TVA asks for public input on closing Bull Run, Paradise fossil plants

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking for public input on a review of the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts of closing the Bull Run and Paradise Fossil Plants.

Bull Run, located in Anderson County, Tennessee, is a single-generator coal-fired power plant. Paradise, near Drakesboro, Kentucky, has one coal-fired generator still operating, unit 3. Two other coal-fired units at Paradise were retired when a new natural gas plant began operation at the site in 2017.

TVA announced a review of generating assets that was focused on Bull Run and Paradise in August. The review is based on the future cost of maintenance and environmental compliance, and other factors. TVA said it must continually evaluate its fleet to ensure flexibility and financial responsibility.

Oak Ridge Today reported when the review was announced in August that the evaluation could help determine whether the plants will be needed in the future. The assessment is to focus on plants that are the least efficient, least cost-effective, and expected to have the highest future costs, TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said. Plants that fit into that category are the Bull Run Fossil Plant, the one remaining unit (Unit 3) at the Paradise Fossil Plant in western Kentucky near Drakesboro, and combustion turbines (gas turbines), Brooks said. The assessment will look at whether TVA needs Bull Run or Paradise or combustion turbines in the future. [Read more…]

TVA, Fish & Wildlife Service announce trout stocking agreement

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The Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a multi-agency agreement to provide continued funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have stocked waters in Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout. The agreement was announced Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, at a press conference beside the Clinch River below Norris Dam. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Valley Authority)

The Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a multi-agency agreement to provide continued funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have stocked waters in Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout. The agreement was announced Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, at a press conference beside the Clinch River below Norris Dam. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Valley Authority)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a multi-agency agreement to provide continued funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have stocked waters in Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout.

The partnership, which began in 2013, includes the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Since 2013, TVA has been funding trout production by the Service at three national fish hatcheries: Dale Hollow and Erwin in Tennessee, and Chattahoochee Forest in Georgia. The trout are then provided to the following tailwaters: Apalachia (Hiwassee River), Blue Ridge, Boone, Cherokee, Fort Patrick Henry, Normandy, Norris, South Holston, Tims Ford, and Wilbur. Trout-stocked reservoirs in the plan include Fort Patrick Henry, South Holston, Parksville, Watauga, and Wilbur reservoirs.

The four partner agencies announced the new agreement Tuesday at a press conference beside the Clinch River below Norris Dam. The agreement provides partnership funding through fiscal year 2021, a press release said. [Read more…]

Cybersecurity expert to lecture at Roane State in Oak Ridge on Oct. 19

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Adam Keown, cybersecurity expert for the Tennessee Valley Authority, will speak on Friday, October 19, at 10 a.m. at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.

Keown’s talk, “Enterprise Cybersecurity: Organization, Job Roles, and Information Security,” will be held in Room 104 of the Goff building. Anyone is welcome to attend, a press release said.

Keown has been a program manager in the TVA Cybersecurity Risk Management team since 2016. In his role, he is responsible for understanding cybersecurity risk at TVA and communicating risk issues to leadership and TVA business units, the press release said. [Read more…]

TVA seeks public comment on Bull Run Environmental Investigation Plan

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking for public comment on a proposed Environmental Investigation Plan for coal combustion residuals at Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton, across the Clinch River from east Oak Ridge.

TVA is developing the plan and seeking public comment following direction from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation regarding coal ash and other coal combustion residuals stored at TVA’s coal plants in Tennessee, a press release said.

The Bull Run Fossil Plant Environmental Investigation Plan provides details on how TVA plans to investigate and assess the risks to soil, surface water, and groundwater from coal combustion residuals stored at Bull Run, the press release said.

This is not related to the review of generating assets announced at TVA’s August board meeting, the press release said. [Read more…]

Twenty tons of uranium could be used to produce tritium for nuclear weapons

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Image courtesy NNSA

Image courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration. SRS is the Savannah River Site.

 

About 20 metric tons of highly enriched uranium could be “down-blended” to low-enriched uranium and transferred to the Tennessee Valley Authority for use as a fuel to produce tritium for nuclear weapons, according to a public notice published in the Federal Register this week.

The project involves the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City in Rhea County, among other sites.

The National Nuclear Security Administration and TVA announced in August that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons.

The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” will be processed, packaged, and shipped from Y-12, according to the NNSA. Y-12 is an NNSA site, and it is the main storage facility for certain categories of highly enriched uranium. [Read more…]

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