Bechtel today congratulated the workforce at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Unit 2 in Tennessee – the first new U.S. nuclear reactor expected to come online this century – on the plant’s declaration of substantial construction completion and its request for issuance of an operating license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Thousands of craft and Bechtel non-manual employees are among those who have worked to complete delivery of the plant for TVA.
"Substantial completion of Watts Bar Unit 2 is a significant accomplishment – for TVA, for Bechtel, and for the entire nuclear industry,” said Craig Albert, president of Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security, & Environmental business. “This was made possible only with the total commitment and teamwork of all utility and contractor employees. This is a historic step for TVA toward preparing to load fuel in the new reactor.”
Read the TVA’s announcement here.
Additional achievements thus far:
- Work has achieved a 98-percent quality-control acceptance rate on the first inspection.
- The workforce has maintained an exceptional safety record, amassing at one time 33 million hours (nearly five years) without a day lost to injury.
- In June of this year, Watts Bar was the first U.S. plant to complete post-Fukushima safety upgrades and an inspection by the NRC.
- Watts Bar Unit 2 successfully completed the NRC’s operational readiness team inspection this summer.
TVA recently completed comprehensive testing on major Unit 2 systems to demonstrate operational readiness on its path to bringing the plant online.
Bechtel has performed work on more than 80 percent of U.S. nuclear plants and 150 nuclear plants worldwide, on all major reactor models. Additional nuclear experience across the facility lifecycle includes environmental cleanup for the U.S. Department of Energy and the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and co-management of U.S. nuclear security laboratories and plants.
