ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
For the first time in 20 years, a new commercial nuclear power plant will come on-line in the U.S. when Watts Bar Unit 2 in southeastern Tennessee begins operations later this summer. The plant will be the first to meet new regulations from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says. After a decades-long delay, construction of the plant, which began in 1973, concluded in 2015 at a total cost of $4.7 billion. The plant is expected to add 1,150 MW of electricity generating capacity to the area. Together with Watts Bar Unit 1, which began operating in 1996, Watts Bar Unit 2 will generate enough electricity to supply 1.3 million homes daily, according to Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned electric utility. EIA says that within the next four years, four other commercial reactors under construction in Georgia and South Carolina are expected to begin operating.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on X