TVA is set to reactivate Browns Ferry Unit 1 next month and is seeking approval for completing Watts Bar Unit 2. What do you think about TVA's record on nuclear power generation? Should they be in the nuclear power business? Will nuclear power help solve our energy problems, or is there too much risk? Read more after the jump...

TVA held a public hearing last night inviting public comment on the environmental impact statement [1] for completing the Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear power facility. The Knoxville News Sentinel has this report [2].

According to the article, TVA has already written off $1.7 billion on the project in 2001. It took 23 years to complete Watts Bar 1 at a cost of $6.9 billion. (Which I believe is more than TVA has spent on pollution controls at its coal-fired power plants during its entire existence.)

TVA is also set to restart Browns Ferry Unit 1 [3] next month. Browns Ferry was shut down in 1985 when it was discovered that the plant's construction did not match the blueprints.

According to the " target="_blank">Nuclear Regulatory Commission [4] (NRC), TVA "has maintained BFN Unit 1 shut down and in a layup condition since 1985 when it voluntarily shut down and maintained shutdown of all three BFN units due to poor performance (i.e., significant enforcement actions, several operational events, equipment failures, and management's inability to identify and correct problems)." Units 2 and 3 were restarted in the 1990s.

Prior to that, a 1975 fire [5] that started when a candle being used by engineers to locate an air leak ignited insulation around some wiring shut down the entire reactor cooling system and all it's redundant backups. The event nearly led to a reactor core meltdown, but improvised measures prevented a Tennessee Valley Chernobyl.

More recently, in April of 2004 the NRC served TVA with notice of a Severity Level III violation [6] at Browns Ferry involving improper welds in the reactor "torus" (a suppression chamber surrounding the reactor as part of its containment system).

Even more recently, in April of this year the NRC cited a contractor at Browns Ferry for "deliberate misconduct" leading to a 2004 safety violation [7] that exposed workers to radioactive contamination.

Given TVA's nuclear power safety record and their massive debt related to cost overruns for nuclear power facilities including some that were scrapped, should TVA be in the nuclear power business? Are there better alternatives (such as the pebble bed reactor [8])? And what about nuclear waste disposal?

I'm on the fence. Properly designed, constructed, and operated, it seems like nuclear power is a good source of abundant, clean (in terms of air pollution and carbon emissions) electrical power. Other countries are able to use it safely and effectively. But there is the waste storage/disposal problem. And safety concerns.

What do y'all think?