The Tennessee Valley Authority is experiencing challenges with the cost and schedule for the completion of the Watts Bar 2 nuclear power plant. The revised completion date for the plant may extend beyond 2013 and the costs are expected to significantly exceed TVA’s previous estimate of $2.5bn.
TVA indicates that lower productivity has slowed the pace of construction at Watts Bar 2. TVA also fears regulatory hurdles resulting from the US nuclear industry response to the Fukushima accident, that will result in additional costs being incurred.
TVA, which operates three nuclear power plants: Browns Ferry, Sequoyah and Watts Bar, decided to restart construction at Watts Bar 2 in 2007. It originally planned to finish the plant, which was 55% complete, within a five year window. Now, the completion date has been put back to 2013 and TVA says it is performing a root cause analysis to better understand the factors contributing to the project's extended schedule and cost.
TVA also indicated that the delays in completion the Watts Bar unit 2 may also run over and impact the timing of the Bellefonte 1 completion. Construction is set to resume at Bellefonte 1 after initial fuel loading at Watts Bar 2.