Bellefonte Nuclear Plant facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station
Country	United States
Location	Hollywood, Alabama
Coordinates	34°42′31″N 85°55′45″W / 34.70861°N 85.92917°W / 34.70861; -85.92917
Status	Suspended for 37 years, 5 months
Construction began	1975
Construction cost	US$6 billion (Units 1 & 2)
Owner(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority

The Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station (also called BLN) is a nuclear power plant that was never finished. It is located in Hollywood, Alabama, in the United States.

Building the Plant

Over 40 years, plans were made for four different nuclear reactors at this site. A lot of money, more than $4 billion, was spent building the first parts of the plant and buying big equipment. However, no nuclear reactor or power plant was ever completed. Even though some nuclear fuel was delivered, it was sent back when the project stopped.

Serious construction work at the site stopped in 1988. After 2005, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which owns the site, tried to get back some of the money they spent. They did this by removing and selling parts of the plant, like steam generators and large pumps. Some useful parts were also moved to other TVA power plants to be used as spare parts.

Units 1 and 2

The Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station site is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority and is in Hollywood, Alabama. The first two reactors planned for the site were partially built. They were designed to be 1,256 megawatt (MWe) pressurized water reactors. These reactors were made by a company called Babcock & Wilcox.

When the TVA Board stopped the project in 1988, Unit 1 was about 88% complete, and Unit 2 was about 58% complete. By then, about $6 billion had been invested in the project. Because some equipment was removed and sold later, the completion percentages are now considered lower: about 55% for Unit 1 and 35% for Unit 2.

Even though the permits to build these units were officially ended in 2006, the TVA looked into finishing them. They hoped Unit 1 could start operating in 2017 and Unit 2 in 2021. In 2008, the TVA asked the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to bring back the construction permits, and this was approved in 2009.

Units 3 and 4

In 2005, it was announced that Bellefonte was also chosen as a possible site for one or two newer AP1000 pressurized water reactors, which would be called Units 3 and 4. The TVA started the process for designing and building these in 2007.

However, in 2009, the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to reduce their plans for the Bellefonte plant to just one reactor. This was because they were selling less electricity and facing higher costs from cleaning up a big coal ash spill.

Later Plans

In 2010, the TVA Board of Directors approved $248 million to keep working on Bellefonte Unit 1. In 2011, they voted to continue building Unit 1. This plan depended on another TVA reactor project, Watts Bar 2 in Tennessee, being completed first. In 2012, TVA said Watts Bar 2 was expected to finish in 2015.

In 2013, the TVA again reduced the number of workers at the Bellefonte plant. New steam generators were bought and built during this time, and they are now stored at the site, waiting for any new construction.

In October 2013, there was a proposal from a former TVA chairman and a financier to finish the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant using private money and government tax credits.

Selling the Site

In 2015, the TVA decided they probably wouldn't need a large plant like Bellefonte for the next 20 years. So, in May 2016, they decided to sell the plant and its 1,600-acre site. The minimum price for the auction was set at $36.4 million.

On October 14, 2016, TVA directors officially said the unfinished plant was extra property. They set an auction date for November 14, 2016. A company called Nuclear Development LLC, led by Franklin L. Haney, won the auction with a bid of $111 million. This was three times the minimum price. Nuclear Development planned to finish the two units, which they estimated would cost over $13 billion more.

As of November 2017, construction at the plant was expected to start by the end of 2018 and take about five years to finish. Nuclear Development LLC made agreements to work with other companies, SNC-Lavalin and Enercon Services, Inc., to complete the project.

In December 2018, the TVA pulled out of the sale agreement. They said that Nuclear Development LLC had not gotten the necessary government approval to take over the site. However, a federal judge ruled in May 2019 that the TVA must continue to honor the agreement to sell the plant. The judge said that the lawsuit brought by Franklin Haney, who sued TVA for breaking the contract, should continue. A trial is set for December 2020 to decide whether to complete the sale or refund the money invested by Nuclear Development. For now, the TVA continues to maintain the Bellefonte site.

Reactor Information

The Bellefonte Generating Station was planned to have four reactors, but none were completed.

Images for kids

• 

  Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station

• 

  Bellefonte Nuclear in 2008

• 

  Bellefonte Nuclear - Aerial view

See also

In Spanish: Central nuclear Bellefonte para niños