Some 1,000 contract workers at the Watts Bar 2 project will face a day and a half without pay this week as the Tennessee Valley Authority shuts down construction to review recent safety problems.In December, TVA inspectors discovered contractors erroneously removed cables from backup pressurizer heaters for the operating reactor at the site. Also, a valve was removed from the new reactor this month contrary to instructions attached to the part. As a result, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported TVA management will order a “stand-down” of contractor personnel at noon Wednesday, with additional safety talks and training sessions scheduled to begin today.When completed next year, Watts Bar 2 will join another Westinghouse pressurized water reactor at the plant northeast of Chattanooga, Tenn. Last summer, unit 2 received the first fuel shipment to a new U.S. power reactor in 15 years. Its construction began in the 1970s but stalled in 1988. TVA restarted construction in 2007, budgeting about $2.5 billion for its completion.
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