TVA to meet with NRC to discuss Browns Ferry concerns

TVA officials are scheduled to meet with the NRC in Atlanta on April 28 to discuss the findings and corrections the public utility has made.

TVA is working to get Unit 1 at Browns Ferry back on line by 2007, a job estimated to cost $1.8 billion.

Two reactors are currently operating at the plant in Athens, Ala., but Unit 1 has been shut down since 1985 because of safety concerns.

The NRC found apparent violations during an inspection on Jan. 29 with welds repairs in the torus, a doughnut-shaped pool around the reactor that catches hot steam released in an accident.

Inspectors discovered some welds were not repaired because there were no work orders and no one checked to see if they had been done, NRC officials said.

TVA has stopped work on them since and analyzed the problems. Most of the welds were correct, Browns Ferry spokesman Craig Beasley said.

TVA will have a chance to present its side of the story at the meeting with the NRC, and the NRC will announce later whether there will be any penalties, commission spokesman Roger Hannah said Wednesday.

“TVA initiated a 100 percent review of torus weld repairs, and the NRC staff say that review and subsequent corrective actions appear comprehensive enough to resolve the problem,” the NRC said in a statement dated April 19.

Plant officials believe the torus will be operational despite the problems.

The NRC reported in November it was satisfied with the work at Unit 1 up to that point.