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Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
Nuclear power plant in Rhea County, Tennessee / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 Chattanooga and Knoxville. Watts Bar supplies enough electricity for about 1.2 million households in the Tennessee Valley.
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant | |
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![]() Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 & 2 cooling towers and containment buildings. | |
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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[lower-alpha 1] |
Commission date | Unit 1: May 27, 1996 Unit 2: October 19, 2016[lower-alpha 1] |
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 was the first of three new power reactors to enter service in the 21st century in the United States, followed by Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4.