ATHENS-After generating more than 20 billion kilowatt hours of carbon-free electricity – enough to power the average home for about 1.8 million years – during a TVA record-setting continuous run, TVA’s Browns Ferry Unit 3 was safely taken offline Friday night to start a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. The outage includes installation of four replacement feedwater heaters to improve the safe and reliable generation of electricity for decades to come.
Before being taken offline, Unit 3 generated electricity for more than 690 consecutive days, breaking its own TVA record for continuous operation. This level of performance demonstrates TVA’s strong track record of equipment reliability and the safe operation of its nuclear units.
“Our carbon-free nuclear fleet is a critical element of our clean energy plan and the improvements we’re making during this outage highlight how we’re strengthening our energy infrastructure to provide reliable service for our customers and communities when they need us most,” said Browns Ferry Site Vice President Matt Rasmussen. “Unit 3’s record run is a tremendous accomplishment that is the result of hard work and a relentless focus on the fundamentals that keep people safe and the plant reliably operating.”
With these outage upgrades, Unit 3 will have four new feedwater heaters, weighing up to 50 tons each, that are more robust, increasing the safety and reliability of power generation well into the future. TVA’s investment in improvements at all three nuclear power stations helps support its mission of service and economic development, ensuring the energy needs of the Tennessee Valley are met, particularly during the peak demand periods of summer and winter.
More than 100 additional outage workers will be at Browns Ferry to work on the feedwater heater upgrades, part of the total of about 850 contractors and shared resource employees from other TVA nuclear stations being brought in to prepare Unit 3 for its next two-year cycle of power generation.
In total, the Unit 3 outage will feature more than 11,000 scheduled work activities, including the installation of 328 new fuel assemblies along with upgrades, modifications, repairs and testing of other plant equipment, including inspections of reactor components and maintenance of key safety systems.
Browns Ferry Unit 3 is one of seven operational TVA nuclear reactors across the Valley. Collectively, TVA’s carbon-free nuclear fleet is the third largest in the nation, safely and reliably providing approximately 40 percent of all electricity used by nearly 10 million people in the Tennessee Valley.
Media Release/Jim Hopson/TVA Public Relations
