Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

The Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant is located on the Tennessee River near Decatur and Athens, Alabama, on the north side (right bank) of Wheeler Lake. The site has three General Electric boiling water reactor (BWR) nuclear generating units and is owned entirely by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). With a generating capacity of nearly 3.8 gigawatts, it is the third most powerful nuclear power plant in the United States, behind the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Arizona and the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia, and the most powerful generating station operated by TVA.

Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant
Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant (NRC image)
Country	United States
Location	Athens, Limestone County, Alabama
Coordinates	34°42′14″N 87°7′7″W
Status	Operational
Construction began	Units 1–2: May 1, 1967 Unit 3: July 1, 1968
Commission date	Unit 1: August 1, 1974 Unit 2: March 1, 1975 Unit 3: March 1, 1977
Construction cost	$4.79 billion (2023 USD)[1]
Owner(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority
Operator(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	BWR
Reactor supplier	General Electric
Cooling towers	7 × Mechanical Draft (supplemental only)[lower-alpha 1]
Cooling source	Wheeler Lake
Thermal capacity	3 × 3,952 MWth
Power generation
Units operational	1 × 1,256 MW 1 × 1,259 MW 1 × 1,260 MW
Make and model	BWR-4 (Mark 1)
Nameplate capacity	3,775 MWe
Capacity factor	96.04% (2017) 78.07% (lifetime)
Annual net output	31,053 GWh (2021)
External links
Website	Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant
Commons	Related media on Commons

History

The nuclear power plant is named after a ferry that operated at the site until the middle of the 20th century. (Brown's Ferry) Browns Ferry was TVA's first nuclear power plant; its approval occurred on June 17, 1966 and construction began in September 1966.^[2] In 1974, the time of its initial operation, it was the largest nuclear plant in the world. It was the first nuclear plant to use units capable of generating more than 1 gigawatt of power.^[3] The lake provides main cooling, and 7 additional Mechanical Draft "helper" cooling towers assist during limitations on water temperature.^[1][4] The 600 ft concrete chimney vents gases.^[5][4]

In 2006, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) renewed the licenses for all three reactors, extending their operation for an additional twenty years past their original 40-year licensing period.

TVA employs 1,500 people at the plant, making it the second largest employer in Limestone County, Alabama after only the Toyota-Mazda factory near Greenbrier^[6][7]

During the January 2024 Snowstorms, the Browns Ferry Plant reached its capacity of 3,954mw, and was serving 2 million customers within the Tennessee Valley area.^[8]

Power uprates

On August 16, 2017, the NRC approved TVA's request for a 14.3% uprate of each reactor's output. Each unit's gross electrical output was 1,155 MW_e (1,101 MW_e net), but after power uprates during refueling outages in Fall 2018 for Unit 1, Spring 2019 for Unit 2, and Spring 2018 for Unit 3, the gross electrical output for each unit was increased to 1,310 MW_e (1,256 MW_e net). The uprate for Unit 3 was completed in July 2018,^[9] and in January 2019 for Unit 1.^[10] The final uprate, for Unit 2, was completed in August 2019, completing the $475 million project.^[11]

The electrical power increase of each unit was facilitated by the maximum operating thermal output of each reactor being increased from 3,458 MW_th to 3,952 MW_th.^[12]

Electricity Production

The graph represents the annual electricity generation at the site in GWh.

Generation (MWh) of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant^[13]

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual (Total)
2001	1,667,851	1,491,373	1,242,131	858,030	1,661,829	1,604,300	1,588,001	1,649,106	1,609,700	1,687,338	1,637,830	1,499,258	18,196,747
2002	1,685,408	1,512,905	1,420,713	1,096,179	1,649,564	1,606,134	1,548,390	1,620,345	1,499,973	1,313,155	1,601,472	1,617,101	18,171,339
2003	1,532,983	1,128,827	1,025,450	1,585,491	1,679,977	1,309,029	1,533,262	1,645,966	1,604,957	1,537,308	1,421,201	1,690,504	17,694,955
2004	1,686,540	1,470,106	841,601	1,599,570	1,658,995	1,590,997	1,537,823	1,622,276	1,600,575	1,675,792	1,527,243	1,676,286	18,487,804
2005	1,675,267	1,348,879	1,295,379	1,113,629	1,660,128	1,553,197	1,608,386	1,561,362	1,504,885	1,631,346	1,335,128	1,668,300	17,955,886
2006	1,487,987	1,402,006	1,036,077	1,614,448	1,499,088	1,581,572	1,621,685	1,501,443	1,579,135	1,334,246	1,621,170	1,592,617	17,871,474
2007	1,560,924	1,022,936	831,703	1,021,159	1,650,880	2,045,566	2,372,923	1,991,492	2,088,068	2,256,012	2,070,380	2,315,217	21,227,260
2008	1,893,721	2,323,817	2,059,198	1,577,956	1,955,015	2,326,307	2,312,684	2,140,764	2,171,358	2,151,422	1,617,818	2,389,356	24,919,416
2009	2,495,915	1,773,377	2,085,348	2,219,185	1,637,825	1,664,921	2,391,731	2,279,194	2,106,496	2,188,309	2,422,544	2,477,782	25,742,627
2010	2,323,753	2,193,597	1,518,364	2,137,333	2,460,077	2,178,911	1,936,632	1,326,214	2,294,697	2,235,307	1,799,306	2,366,946	24,771,137
2011	2,355,215	2,200,794	1,678,032	1,898,038	295,548	2,313,208	2,365,264	2,257,444	2,289,458	2,449,347	2,448,450	2,374,074	24,924,872
2012	2,523,614	2,276,390	2,488,182	1,743,743	1,676,274	2,229,333	2,378,452	2,396,206	2,372,908	2,147,256	1,623,684	2,222,193	26,078,235
2013	2,492,365	1,802,735	1,705,836	1,619,918	2,347,845	2,353,628	2,419,741	2,421,309	2,351,218	2,480,664	2,318,275	2,404,579	26,718,113
2014	2,496,150	1,857,823	1,930,723	2,419,669	2,357,300	2,323,768	2,428,341	2,105,116	2,202,519	1,690,915	2,410,915	2,515,061	26,738,300
2015	2,522,630	2,275,914	1,980,313	2,050,289	2,418,863	2,353,346	2,402,549	2,390,292	2,281,649	2,498,807	2,256,646	2,238,396	27,669,694
2016	2,346,937	1,913,869	1,683,786	2,404,699	2,467,542	2,348,575	2,223,936	2,306,757	2,166,078	1,629,619	2,244,099	2,478,726	26,214,623
2017	2,361,245	1,959,361	1,663,795	2,372,881	2,474,116	2,356,377	2,440,385	2,371,276	2,391,880	2,498,096	2,428,665	2,529,802	27,847,879
2018	2,427,645	1,614,094	1,541,633	2,199,272	2,286,602	2,382,452	2,518,277	2,395,000	2,214,383	1,372,576	1,826,143	2,619,704	25,397,781
2019	2,677,940	2,351,969	1,645,879	2,278,510	2,693,784	2,608,289	2,619,186	2,681,415	2,339,956	2,509,767	2,332,120	2,781,085	29,519,900
2020	2,658,509	2,255,363	1,924,789	2,510,217	2,596,221	2,446,549	2,106,817	2,690,416	2,498,959	1,924,626	2,411,481	2,750,903	28,774,850
2021	2,783,476	2,418,303	1,887,703	1,986,456	2,801,025	2,663,214	2,758,676	2,733,946	2,683,156	2,823,124	2,735,754	2,778,719	31,053,552
2022	2,384,111	2,252,918	1,873,268	2,545,845	2,768,072	2,616,572	2,624,500	2,662,134	2,396,078	1,975,040			24,098,538

Unit 1

Unit 1 under construction

Unit 1 is a 1,256 MWe net BWR/4 built by General Electric. Construction started on Unit 1 on September 12, 1966^[2] and first powered up for testing on December 20, 1973. Commercial operation began on August 1, 1974.^[14] It was licensed to operate through December 20, 2013.^[15] Unit 1 was shut down for a year after a fire in 1975 damaged the unit. The unit was subsequently repaired and operated from 1976 through March 3, 1985, when all three Browns Ferry units were shut down for operational and management issues.

Starting in 2002, TVA undertook an effort to restore Unit 1 to operational status, spending $1.8 billion USD to do so. The NRC approved the restart of Unit 1 on May 15, 2007 and the reactor was brought up to criticality on May 22.^[16] During initial testing after restart, on May 24, 2007, a leaky hydraulic control pipe in the turbine hall burst, spilling about 600 US gallons (2,300 L; 500 imp gal) of non-radioactive fluid, and the newly restarted reactor was temporarily powered down. Reactor power-up and tests resumed on May 27 and the unit started supplying power to the electricity supply grid on June 2, 2007, reaching full power on June 8. The Browns Ferry restart was estimated to pay for itself in five years.^[17]

On May 4, 2006, NRC issued a renewed license, adding twenty years to operate through December 20, 2033.^[15]

Unit 1 generated 9,801 GWh of electricity in 2017, achieving a capacity factor of 101.62%.

Unit 1 fire

Polyurethane foam used to fill a cable tray penetration at a power plant in Nova Scotia (subsequently removed and replaced with firestop mortar).

On March 22, 1975 a fire started when a worker using a candle to search for air leaks accidentally set a temporary cable seal on fire. At Browns Ferry, foamed plastic, covered on both sides with two coats of a flame retardant paint, was used as a firestop. The fire spread from the temporary seal into the foamed plastic, causing significant damage to the reactor control cabling in the station.^[18]

An NRC bulletin explained the circumstances of the fire.

The fire started in the cable spreading room at a cable penetration through the wall between the cable spreading room and the reactor building for Unit 1. A slight differential pressure is maintained (by design) across this wall, with the higher pressure being on the cable spreading room side. The penetration seal originally present had been breached to install additional cables required by a design modification. Site personnel were resealing the penetration after cable installation and were checking the airflow through a temporary seal with a candle flame prior to installing the permanent sealing material. The temporary sealing material was highly combustible, and caught fire. Efforts were made by the workers to extinguish the fire at its origin, but they apparently did not recognize that the fire, under the influence of the draft through the penetration, was spreading on the reactor building side of the wall. The extent of the fire in the cable spreading room was limited to a few feet from the penetration; nonetheless, the presence of the fire on the other side of the wall from the point of ignition was not recognized until significant damage to cables related to the control of Units 1 and 2 had occurred.^[19]

This later resulted in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission making significant additions to the standards for fire protection through the publication of 10CFR50.48 and Appendix R. According to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, the newly restarted Unit 1 does not comply with these standards.^{[citation needed]} Unit 3 was not affected by the accident. This event was pivotal not just for firestopping in the nuclear field, but also in commercial and industrial construction. While the nuclear field went to installations of silicone foam, a wider array of firestops became prevalent in non-nuclear construction.^{[citation needed]}

Unit 2

Unit 2 is a 1,259 MWe net BWR/4 built by General Electric that originally came online on August 2, 1974, and is licensed to operate through June 28, 2034. Unit 2 generated 8,396 GWh of electricity in 2017, achieving a capacity factor of 86.81%.

Unit 2 returned to service in 1991, after all three reactors were shut down in 1985.^[20] During a drought in August 2007, Unit 2 was shut down for one day because water temperature in the Tennessee River rose too high for the water to be used for cooling and then discharged back into the river.^[21]

Beginning in 2005 Unit 2 was loaded with BLEU (Blended Low Enriched Uranium) recovered by the DOE from weapons programs. This fuel contains quantities of U-236 and other contaminants because it was made from reprocessed fuel from weapons program reactors and therefore has slightly different characteristics when used in a reactor as compared to fresh uranium fuel. By making use of this fuel, which would otherwise have been disposed of as waste, the TVA is saving millions of dollars in fuel costs and accumulating a database of recycled uranium reactions in LWR use.^[22]

Unit 3

Unit 3 is a 1,260 MWe net BWR/4 built by General Electric that originally came online on August 18, 1976 with a capacity of 1,105 MWe net, and is licensed to operate through July 2, 2036. Unit 3 returned to service in 1995 after all three units were shut down in 1985 for maintenance and repairs.^[20] Unit 3 generated 9,651 GWh in 2017, achieving a capacity factor of 99.70%. The power update of 155 MWe was completed in July 2018.

Additional incidents

March 19, 1985

TVA decided to shut the entire plant down and keep it shut down indefinitely in order to focus on making improvements to all three units in order to bring it back into regulatory compliance following extremely negative assessments from the NRC.^[23] Unit 2 finally resumed operation on May 24, 1991, with Unit 3 following it on November 1, 1995, although Unit 1 did not resume operation until June 2, 2007.

May 10, 1986

Cooling tower #4 (which was 90 feet (27 m) wide, 300 feet (91 m) long, and four stories tall) was destroyed in a fire caused by sparks from the electrical cooling fans in the tower hitting the abnormally dry redwood slats within the tower on May 10, 1986. During normal operation, water was kept flowing near-continuously over the redwood slats within the tower, but after close to two months of inactivity, the slats were very dry and extremely flammable.^[24][25] $5 million of damage was done.^[26]

May 23, 1996

Cooling tower #3 (which was in the process of being refurbished at the time) was heavily damaged in a fire on May 23, 1996, with about 80% of the tower destroyed.^[26]

August 19, 2006

At 11:05 AM on August 19, 2006, Unit 3 was manually scrammed due to loss of both the 3A and 3B Reactor Recirculation pumps. The initial investigation found the Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) microprocessors non-responsive. The root cause of the event was that the VFD controls malfunctioned due to excessive traffic on the connected plant Integrated Control System (ICS) network. Corrective actions included installing network firewalls that limit the connections and traffic to the VFD controllers.^[27]

April 27, 2011

Towers crumpled by the tornado.

At 5:01 PM on April 27, 2011, all three reactors scrammed due to loss of external power caused by a tornado in the vicinity of the plant. Control rod insertion and cooling procedures operated as designed with no physical damage or release of radiation. Diesel backup generators provided power after a brief period of outage. An NRC Unusual Event, the lowest level of emergency classification, was declared due to loss of power exceeding 15 minutes. Additionally, a small oil leak was found on one generator. Due to widespread transmission grid damage from the storms, Browns Ferry was unable to produce power for the grid and significant blackouts occurred throughout the Southeastern United States.^[28][29]

January 2015

A drain line leaked 100-200 gallons of water containing tritium levels above acceptable EPA drinking water standards. The leak was fixed within three hours of when it was discovered and was largely contained within the plant area.^[30]

May 2015

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that 5 contract workers failed to conduct roving fire watch patrols as required by NRC. As a result, Tennessee Valley Authority was fined $140,000 for failing to maintain adequate fire watches in 2015 at Browns Ferry.^[31]

Surrounding population

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Browns Ferry was 39,930, an increase of 12.3 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. In 2020, the population within 50 miles (80 km) was about 1.4 million, an increase of 43 percent since 2010. Cities within 50 miles include Huntsville (28 miles to city center).^[32][33]

Seismic risk

According to an NRC study using geological data from 1989 to 2008 which was published in August 2010, the estimated risk of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to reactor one was 1 in 270,270, and for reactors two and three, the risk was 1 in 185,185.^[34][35]

See also

• United States portal
• Energy portal
• Nuclear technology portal

• List of largest power stations in the United States
• Largest nuclear power plants in the United States
• New Madrid Seismic Zone
• 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes

Notes

1. The plant is operated in an open-cycle mode of operation with up to seven additional mechanical draft "helper" cooling towers that are used as necessary in order to comply with regulations on discharge water temperature limits. One or more of the plant's units can also be derated (operated at a reduced power level) in order to maintain discharge water temperature within permitted limits, although this is only done as a last resort as it reduces revenues. The plant was designed to also be able to operate in a fully closed-cycle mode, but due to difficulties operating in this mode, it has not been used since at least 1991.

References

1. "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
2. "TVA timeline by year" (PDF). Tennessee Valley Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
3. "Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant". Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Archived from the original on 2015-10-12. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
4. "BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT UNIT 1 SEISMIC IPEEE REPORT, TVANBFN-01 -R-005" (PDF). NRC. October 7, 2004. The residual heat removal service water intake structure is a single structure serving all three units. The reinforced concrete chimney stands 600 feet high and varies in diameter from 62 feet at the base to 6 feet at the top
5. Jonsson, Asgeir; Smith, John W. (1970). "Design of Browns Ferry Chimney". Journal of the Power Division. pp. 437–447.
6. It's official: Toyota-Mazda announce Alabama factory, AL.com, 11 Jan 2018
7. Major Employers, Limestone County Economic Development Association, retrieved 2018-03-01
8. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
9. Flessner, Dave (2018-07-24). "TVA boosts power output at newest Browns Ferry reactor". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Chattanooga, Tennessee. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
10. "Browns Ferry 2 taken offline for power uprate". Nuclear Engineering International Magazine. March 7, 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
11. "TVA completes nearly $500M upgrade at Browns Ferry nuclear plant". Power Engineering. August 8, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-08-26. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
12. "NRC Approves Extended Power Uprate for Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant" (PDF). www.nrc.gov. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. August 16, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
13. "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
14. "Browns Ferry No. 2 N-Unit Test Approved". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press. August 9, 1974. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
15. "Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 1". www.nrc.gov. United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 2017. Archived from the original on May 2, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
16. "TVA Restarts Browns Ferry Unit 1". www.tva.gov. Tennessee Valley Authority. May 22, 2007. Archived from the original on June 15, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
17. Blair, Elliot (2007-07-09). "New Reactor Costs Daunt U.S. Utilities as TVA Restarts Old Unit". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
18. Fisher, Brad (April 4, 1979). "Nuclear risk-benefit ratio needs a much closer look". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved August 19, 2020 – via Google News. The fire burned for seven hours, damaging scores of cables that provide the control room staff their eyes and ears to the two 1.1 million kilowatt reactors. Core cooling systems, pumps, dials and switches were knocked out by the fire. But plant workers found a way to press the auxiliary pumps into service, which kept the reactor cooled and allowed for a safe shutdown of the reactors after about 15 hours.
19. "IE Bulletin No. - 75-04A: Cable Fire at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant". United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. April 3, 1975.
20. "Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, Alabama, USA". power-technology.com. Verdict Media Limited. 2007. Retrieved 2018-11-16. All three units of the Browns Ferry plant were actually shut down in 1985, but they retained their NRC operating licences. Unit 2 came back on line in 1991, and Unit 3 in 1995 at a cost of US $1.8bn, which was also the estimated cost of restarting Unit 1.
21. Mitch Weiss, Drought Could Force Nuclear Plants to Shut Down, Associated Press, January 23, 2008, retrieved from WRAL-TV website, April 7, 2009
22. TVA press release Archived September 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
23. United States General Accounting Office (13 August 1987). Nuclear Regulation: Efforts To Ensure Nuclear Power Plant Safety Can Be Strengthened (PDF) (Report). United States General Accounting Office. p. 40. OCLC 878522216. RCED-87-141. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
24. Mahaffey, James (2014-02-04). Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima (1st ed.). Pegasus Books. ISBN 9781480447745.
25. "Fire Destroys Cooling Tower at Nuclear Plant". AP News. 11 May 1986. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
26. "Blaze Heavily Damages Unused Cooling Tower At Nuclear Plant". AP News. 23 May 1996. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
27. "TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY - BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT (BFN) - UNIT 3 - DOCKET 50-296 - FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE DPR - 69 - LICENSEE EVENT REPORT (LER) 50-296/2006-002-00" (PDF). U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
28. NRC: Event Notification Report for April 28, 2011
29. TVA: Power Restoration Updates Archived May 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
30. "Tritium Leak". 11 January 2015.
31. "TVA fined $140,000 for fire violations at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant; from google (brown ferry nuclear plant drought) result 7". 29 November 2016.
32. "Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors". NBC News. 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
33. Reporter, Staff (2022-07-05). "Nuclear Power plants in Alabama - A competitive and clean energy Source". skillings.net. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
34. "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk". NBC News. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
35. "SAFETY/RISK ASSESSMENT RESULTS FOR GENERIC ISSUE 199, "IMPLICATIONS OF UPDATED PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC HAZARD ESTIMATES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN UNITED STATES ON EXISTING PLANTS"" (PDF). September 2, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.

External links

Media related to Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant at Wikimedia Commons

• TVA Website
• "Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, Alabama". Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). August 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
• "Browns Ferry 1 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
• "Browns Ferry 2 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. NRC. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
• "Browns Ferry 3 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. NRC. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
• The Fire at the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Power Station, by David Dinsmore Comey, 1976.
• NIRS Investigation Finds That "New" Browns Ferry-1 Reactor Still Doesn't Meet Fire Protection Regulations Its 1975 Fire Caused Nuclear Information and Resource Service, June 20, 2007.
• TVA reactor shut down; cooling water drawn from river too hot
• Reactor Fire Protection 10CFR50.48^{[permanent dead link]}, NRC Summary
• Climate change causes nuclear, coal plant shutdowns June 4, 2012 USA Today, regarding the effects of global warming