Phipps Bend Nuclear Plant

Phipps Bend Nuclear Plant was a planned nuclear power generation facility that was to be constructed and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in unincorporated Hawkins County, Tennessee. Proposed to house two reactor units, the power plant was estimated to cost $1.6 billion when it was first planned in late 1977, provide a generating capacity of 2,600,000 kilowatts. Following negative public reactions towards nuclear energy following the Three Mile Island accident and a decreasing demand for power due to regional economic decline, the TVA's board of directors voted to defer further construction of the power plant. By 1981, the plant was 40% complete and an estimated $1.5 billion in planning, engineering, and construction costs had accumulated. Construction never resumed, and the project was canceled overall in 1982 due to lower load growth than forecast. By the project's cancellation, the TVA had amassed over $2.6 billion in spending for the incomplete nuclear facility. After being auctioned off by the TVA in 1987, the land acquired for the plant would be under the ownership of Hawkins County's industrial development board, who converted most of the site into an industrial park. A 1 MW solar farm was built at the site in 2017.