On Thursday, Tennessee Valley Authority board members gave their unanimous approval to complete unit 1 at the long-abandoned Bellefonte nuclear plant.

The decision, pushed back from this spring following the Fukushima Daiichi accident, marks an end to decades of deliberation over the final disposition of the reactor. TVA estimates the unit was 90 percent complete when its construction was stopped in 1988. The reactor is now considered 55 percent complete following two years of “asset recovery,” one of a number of plans for the site near Hollywood, Ala., over the years that have also included proposals for two new AP1000 reactors and the completion of both uncompleted units.


TVA’s move this week paves the way for $4.5 billion to $5 billion in work to finish unit 1, though not as soon as had been originally proposed. The board’s decision specifically said construction will not begin until after fuel loading at Watts Bar 2, another TVA reactor project abandoned the same year as Bellefonte and restarted in 2007. WBIR news reported further project planning and regulatory approvals will take at least two years.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reinstated Bellefonte’s original construction permit in 2009. Some plant equipment, including most of the control room, will be updated or replaced. The unit will use a Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor designed to generate 1,260 megawatts.