Ala. reactor restarted after 22 years

Utility officials restarted a long-dormant nuclear reactor Tuesday, 22 years after it was shut down because of safety concerns at what was once the nation's largest nuclear power plant.

The restart capped a five-year, $1.8 billion renovation at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant.

Plant spokesman Craig Beasley said there were no reports of problems. Extensive testing remained to be done before electricity from the Unit 1 reactor would begin flowing on transmission lines. The plant's other two reactors remained at full power.

"Right now they're looking at the pressure inside the reactor. They will keep the power very low for several days, and then increase it to 35 percent," he said.

The entire three-reactor plant was idled in 1985 amid mounting worries over plant safety and management. The Unit 2 and 3 reactors were restarted in the 1990s after extensive renovations and upgrades.

Restarting the reactor "gives TVA another dependable, safe and emissions-free source of generation to help meet the growing demand for power in the Tennessee Valley," TVA Chief Executive Tom Kilgore said in a statement.

A watchdog group pointed to the plant's history of problems and questioned whether the reactor should be operating at all.

Sara Barczak, safe energy director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said Browns Ferry has an "infamous history" that poses concerns even after the refurbishment. Reactors are most likely to have problems during and shortly after startups or as they age, she said, and Unit 1 falls into both categories.

"This restart is a high-alert time for safety," she said.

Capable of powering 1.95 million homes total, Browns Ferry was the nation's largest nuclear plant until it was shut down.

In 1975, an employee using a candle to check for air leaks in Unit 1 sparked a fire that was considered the nation's worst nuclear power accident until the partial core meltdown of the Three Mile Island plant in 1979 in Pennsylvania.

The Browns Ferry plant is along the banks of the Tennessee River, about 95 miles north of Birmingham.

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