The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the Tennessee Valley Authority a 40-year operating license for Watts Bar Unit 2. This is the first U.S. reactor the NRC has authorized to operate since 1996, when the agency issued the license for Watts Bar Unit 1.

The Watts Bar plant, located in Spring City, Tenn., about 60 miles southwest of Knoxville, now has two pressurized-water reactors. The Unit 2 license allows operation through Oct. 22, 2055.

“After devoting more than 200,000 hours over eight years conducting extensive safety reviews and inspections, we’re satisfied Unit 2 is safe to operate and we’ve issued TVA the operating license,” said Bill Dean, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. “We already monitor Unit 1’s performance through our Reactor Oversight Process, which is used at all reactor sites throughout the country, and we’re adding Unit 2 to that system. Staff from our Region II office in Atlanta will ensure TVA meets its requirements as it loads fuel into Unit 2 and runs tests before the unit starts generating electricity.”

TVA had maintained Unit 2 in an incomplete state since 1985 and had extended the unit’s construction permit since then. In 2007, the utility began efforts to complete Unit 2 and updated its operating license application in March 2009. The NRC staff completed its Unit 2 environmental review in May 2013 and the staff has been supplementing the Unit 2 safety evaluation report on an ongoing basis. The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards also reviewed the staff’s work and supported the licensing decision.

Watts Bar is the first site to comply with the agency’s fukushima-related orders on

mitigation strategies and Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation. The agency has two resident inspectors at Watts Bar for day-to-day oversight of site activities, and an additional resident inspector for continued oversight of start-up activities at Unit 2.

The Watts Bar 2 decision means there are now 100 U.S. commercial reactors licensed to operate. Information on these plants and the NRC’s oversight of them is available on the NRC website.

"This achievement signifies more than a stage in construction for TVA,” said president and CEO Bill Johnson. “It demonstrates to the people of the Valley that we have taken every step possible to deliver low cost, carbon-free electricity safely and with the highest quality.

“Completing Watts Bar Unit 2 was a sound business decision made for the long-term good of the Tennessee Valley,” Mr. Johnson said. “The unit is essential to diversifying TVA’s power sources to assure the more than 9 million people served by TVA and its local power company partners have affordable and reliable electricity generated in an environmentally friendly manner.”

Receipt of the operating license marks the end of the construction on Watts Bar Unit 2. The Watts Bar team is focusing on and preparing for initial fuel load, which will require several weeks of work with ongoing NRC inspections and reviews, and readying all the key components and systems for operation. The unit is on schedule for operation in early 2016.

“Completing Watts Bar Unit 2 and successfully licensing one of the nation’s largest new nuclear generation projects is a historic milestone for TVA and the nuclear industry,” said TVA Chief Nuclear Officer Joe Grimes. “With the delivery of this unit, we are further positioning nuclear power as a key player in TVA’s – and the nation’s – energy portfolio and instilling confidence in TVA and the nuclear industry.”

At the height of construction the project employed more than 3,500 people. Crews reached more than 33 million work hours without a lost-time accident, reflecting the importance of safety and quality on the project.

“Issuance of the operating license for the nation’s first new nuclear unit of the 21st century is the result of a good team completing a tremendous amount of hard work and complex testing the right way – safely and with quality – and demonstrating that Unit 2 can be operated in a manner that ensures regulatory compliance,” said Mike Skaggs, senior vice president of Watts Bar Operations and Construction.

Senator Bob Corker said, “Today’s historic announcement is great news for the Tennessee Valley and for the future of nuclear power. The second Watts Bar reactor will be the first U.S. nuclear plant of the 21st century and its safe completion is a testament to the outstanding leadership and hard work of so many across the valley. TVA’s ability to carry out its mission of providing clean, affordable, reliable power will be enhanced by the completion of Watts Bar Unit 2, and I thank all of those who have worked to make this a reality.”

Senator Lamar Alexander said the decision will bring cheap, clean, reliable energy and jobs to the Tennessee Valley. He said, "Watts Bar Unit 2 is the country’s first new reactor built in the 21st Century, and I am very pleased to see it is ready to go online. Soon, it will bring cheap, clean and reliable energy, as well as good-paying jobs, to the Tennessee Valley.”

Congressman Chuck Fleischmann said, “It comes as tremendous news that Watts Bar Unit 2 has been awarded an operating license. Watts Bar 2 will be America’s first 21st century nuclear reactor and will provide clean inexpensive, reliable power for East Tennessee.”

Together with already-operating Unit 1, Watts Bar will produce nearly 2,300 megawatts of carbon-free energy. That’s enough to power 1.3 million homes in the TVA service territory.