SPRING CITY, Tenn. – The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1 returned to operation on May 12 after completing a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage that will help support decades of additional reliable generation of carbon-free energy. The Watts Bar team safely completed more than 11,000 work activities to return the unit to full generating capacity and supply the energy for 650,000 homes.

“We’re appreciative of the Watts Bar team, which includes support from team members across the TVA fleet as well as our highly skilled union and contract partners, for safely performing the work that will allow us to continue to provide safe, reliable, carbon-free electricity for the next 18-month operating cycle,” said Tony Williams, Watts Bar site vice president. “As our region grows at a rate six times faster than the national average, we’re proud to know that we’re helping to meet the growing power needs of around the 10 million people throughout the Tennessee Valley who count on us each and every day.”

In addition to replacing 92 of Unit 1’s 193 fuel assemblies, the Watts Bar team performed detailed inspections of reactor components and other plant systems to ensure continued safe operation of all components, replaced or serviced plant equipment, and installed enhancements to help the unit continue safe, reliable operation for years to come.

Watts Bar Unit 1 is one of seven operational TVA nuclear reactors across the Valley. TVA’s nuclear fleet is the third largest in the nation, safely and reliably providing more than 40% of all electricity generated by TVA. Combined with other parts of TVA’s diverse generation system, nuclear power is the major contributor to the organization’s carbon reduction targets against the 2005 benchmark of 70% by 2030, 80% by 2035, and aspire to be net-zero by 2050.