DECATUR – Beginning this Wednesday, January 5, monthly tests of the emergency notification siren system associated with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant will move to the first Wednesday of each month. The tests will continue to start at 9:15 a.m. CT.
Previously, the three-minute monthly siren tests occurred on the second Monday of each month. Moving to the first Wednesday aligns the Browns Ferry test with similar siren system tests at TVA’s other nuclear plants. The Wednesday timing also avoids several Monday holidays that often create challenges to test schedules.
One-hundred-and-four sirens are located within a 10-mile radius of the Browns Ferry plant and are designed to alert residents to tune in to local media outlets for information in the event of an emergency. The sirens are controlled directly by county emergency management agencies, which can activate the system for severe weather conditions, as well as the unlikely event of an emergency at Browns Ferry.
The change in monthly siren test timing, as well as key emergency preparedness information, is included in 2022 calendars sent annually to each household within a 10-mile radius of Browns Ferry. Additional information on how TVA, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and county emergency management agencies prepare for such events can be found at www.tva.com/prepare.
Browns Ferry is one of three TVA nuclear plants across the Valley – the third largest nuclear fleet in the nation – safely and reliably providing more than 40% of all electricity used by nearly 10 million people in the region. Nuclear power is also the major contributor to TVA’s growing portfolio of carbon-free energy generation.
Media Release/Jim Hopson/TVA Public Relations
