Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear reactor pair used for electric power generation. It is located on a 1,770-acre (7.2 km²) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between the cities of Chattanooga and Knoxville. Watts Bar supplies enough electricity for about 1,200,000 households in the Tennessee Valley.
| Watts Bar Nuclear Plant | |
|---|---|
Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 & 2 cooling towers and containment buildings. | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Rhea County, near Spring City, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 35°36′10″N 84°47′22″W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | Unit 1: July 20, 1973 Unit 2: September 1, 1973 |
| Commission date | Unit 1: May 27, 1996 Unit 2: October 19, 2016 |
| Construction cost | More than $12 billion |
| Owner(s) | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| Operator(s) | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
| Cooling towers | 2 × Natural Draft |
| Cooling source | Tennessee River |
| Thermal capacity | 1 × 3459 MWth 1 × 3411 MWth |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 × 1167 MW 1 × 1165 MW |
| Make and model | WH 4-loop (ICECND) |
| Nameplate capacity | 2332 MW |
| Capacity factor | 68.10% (2017) 73.45% (lifetime) |
| Annual net output | 16,808 GWh (2022) |
| External links | |
| Website | www |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
The plant, construction of which began in 1973, has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactor units: Unit 1, completed in 1996, and Unit 2, completed in 2015. Unit 1 has a winter net dependable generating capacity of 1,167 megawatts. Unit 2 has a capacity of 1,165 megawatts.
Unit 2 is the first new power reactor to enter service in the 21st century in the US, and was one of only two reactors to do so with the other being Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Unit 3.