ATHENS, Ala. – Modifications to return Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1 to service are on schedule, and the project is within budget, TVA Director Bill Baxter said today after visiting the plant.

TVA Chief Nuclear Officer John Scalice and Vice President of Browns Ferry Unit 1 Restart Jon Rupert escorted Baxter on a tour inside Unit 1 primary containment, where work to refurbish or replace equipment has begun. The primary containment, also known as the drywell, is a robust concrete and steel structure which houses the unit’s reactor.

“Restarting Browns Ferry Unit 1 is a wise business investment for TVA and our customers,” said Baxter. “It will provide clean, affordable and reliable power enabling TVA to meet the future power demands of people in the Tennessee Valley. TVA Nuclear and our partners, Bechtel Power and Stone and Webster, are thus far doing an excellent job of meeting the project schedule and budget.”
Engineering design work is about 25 percent complete, and the overall project is about 12 percent complete. At the end of January, about 1,700 people were employed working on the restart effort.

The TVA Board voted last May to return Unit 1 to service after reviewing detailed engineering, planning and financial analyses. The five-year project will cost an estimated $1.8 billion.

The work to restart Unit 1 started inside the large primary containment and will continue outward to the secondary containment – also called the reactor building – to the unit’s main control room, and then to the turbine building.

Engineers with Bechtel Power Corporation prepare the designs. Skilled craft workers, provided by Stone and Webster, prepare work plans to implement the modifications, officials said.

About 4.5 million work hours will be required to complete the engineering and about 11 million work hours will be required to complete the modifications.

The engineering work for the primary containment is complete, and the work to refurbish or replace equipment, structures and components in it began in late January. This is the first work to put in place equipment that will be a part of the unit’s eventual operation.

“We are doing well at this point in the startup effort, but there is much more work to be done,” Scalice said. “We will continue to follow the same cautious and diligent approach for the remaining work scope for a successful restart.”

When completed, Unit 1 will generate up to 1,280 megawatts of electricity – enough power to meet the needs of about 650,000 homes. Browns Ferry currently has two operating units, which are part of the five nuclear units operated by TVA.

TVA is the nation’s largest public power producer and is self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve 8.3 million consumers in seven southeastern states.
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SATELLITE COORDINATES:
For television stations who were unable to attend the media briefing, Director Baxter’s opening remarks and Unit 1 b-roll will be fed at 3-3:30 p.m. EST (2-2:30 p.m. CST) on:
SBS 6, Transponder 5
Orbital slot: 74 degree WL
Downlink Freq: 11823 (H)

ELECTRONIC PICTURES:
For print media who were unable to attend the media briefing, please email gdswagerty@tva.gov for jpeg files of pictures taken inside Browns Ferry
Unit 1.

Media Contact: Lucha Ramey, Knoxville, (865) 632-8385
Craig Beasley, Athens, AL (256) 729-7698
TVA News Bureau, Knoxville, (865) 632-6000
www.tva.com

(Mailed/faxed February 14, 2003)