Speaking to business leaders in Jackson County, Ala., Wednesday, TVA CEO Bill Johnson said layoffs at the Bellefonte nuclear plant have begun under a plan announced this spring to put the reactor completion project on hold.Johnson said the number of remaining plant workers will be cut from 500 to 150 over the next year, WHNT News reported. In June, TVA announced it would cut its Bellefonte workforce by two-thirds and dismiss 365 contractors and 35 of 60 TVA employees.Bellefonte is home to two 1,260 megawatt Babcock & Wilcox reactors abandoned in the 1980s, and TVA decided to restart work on unit 1 in 2011. On Wednesday, Johnson cited energy efficiency and increased hydro production as reasons why the project is no longer economical, although it has not been cancelled completely. The federal utility has prioritized the completion of another unfinished reactor at Watts Bar that has faced cost increases and delays. The remaining workforce at Bellefonte will mostly focus on maintenance, security and planning.
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This is due to the union contractors at Watts Bar. I was at Watts Bar to do work for 4 months last year (we are non-union), we worked along side the unions. We would take a break at noon for one hour and get back to the job. We spent between 7-9hrs a day at our job site while they would maybe spend 3-4 due to heading out early to make their break, taking their time getting back to work etc etc. this process happened 3 times during the day. We were actually sent home for 3 weeks because we had to wait for them to catch up. We also had pipefitters in our trailer great guys, but they sat in the trailer for 4 months and maybe got up 10 times to do work.
If these unions would have looked ahead at the work they could have had in the future at Bellefonte maybe just maybe Watts Bar would not be so far off schedule. When I was their they laid off about 500 union workers from one contracting firm but by then the damage was done. I am not saying this is the only reason, but from my experience at Watts Bar and other Nuclear Plants around the country if we are going to be successful at building new plants these union workers need to be kept in check.
Working for the TVA isn't a job, it's a life style - less violent than the Post Office, but slightly less efficient.
The biggest thing wrong at TVA is our government. Many other nuclear plants have been built and run to end of life while Bellefonte is still being built. No government is really able to be in business and govern effectively. Political pressure has stopped many plants from being built and many have closed due to left wing nuts in our government. The only thing Obama has ever said that made sense was to privatize TVA, that is the only thing that can save it from itself.
P.S. I am also sorry the man at Watts Bar does not understand the skilled labor requirements that nuclear plants require. Although working for TVA is a lifestyle. G Wood
