According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the two reactors at the Sequoyah plant are pressurized light water reactors (PWR). A second reactor planned for the Watts Bar plant is listed in appendix B, "Cancelled U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Reactors," of the NRC Information Digest, with the notation that (as of the publication date) the reactor has not been formally cancelled. Watts Bar I is also a PWR.

Permanently Shutdown Commercial Reactors: Not applicable. As noted, there is one cancelled reactor: Watts Bar II.

Nuclear Research and Test Reactors Regulated by NRC: Not applicable.

Nuclear Power Generation in Tennessee, 1980 through 2005 Million kilowatthours

Sources: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-906, Power Plant Report, and predecessor forms.

Nuclear Generation

Electricity generation by nuclear power plants is available for each reactor and each State for each of the following years:

• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005

Contribution of Nuclear Power

As of January 1, 2005, Tennessee ranked 15th among the 31 States with nuclear capacity.

A quick glance at the U.S. coal reserves map reveals coal fields nearly encircling Tennessee.  Kentucky's coal data are split by EIA into two regions: western and eastern Kentucky.  Tennessee’s electric utilities imported 3.1 million short tons of coal from western Kentucky, the largest market for western Kentucky mines outside Kentucky itself. Combined with 2.5 million short tons from eastern Kentucky, 6.9 million short tons from Colorado and Wyoming, 3 million short tons from Illinois, and sundry amounts from various States, the total distribution to Tennessee power plants is 19 million short tons of coal.

Tennessee also uses hydroelectric power. During the Depression, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began harnessing the power of mighty rivers in one of the Nation's greatest engineering feats. By 1942, TVA had 12 hydroelectric projects and a steam plant under construction simultaneously.

Tennessee’s three nuclear reactors provide nearly triple the power of all the dams in the State. 

Tennessee Nuclear Highlights

• In January 1943, General Leslie R. Groves persuades DuPont Company to build the pilot facilities at X-10 in Oak Ridge for the Manhattan Project, and eventually the reactors at Hanford, Washington. (The X-10 facility was to supply plutonium for the atom bomb.) The contract stipulated that DuPont would receive no payment other than costs plus $1 profit. (General Groves later reported that DuPont received only 66 cents in profit because the project was finished ahead of schedule). {Excerpted from Oak Ridge National Laboratory web site}
• On May 27, 1996, Watts Bar 1 began commercial operation. As of this publication, it remains the last new reactor to go on line in the United States.
• According to TVA, in September 2000, Watts Bar 1 operated continuously for 512 days, eclipsing the record of 468 days set at Sequoyah 1 in February of the same year.

The Computer and Nuclear Power

ORNL's work helped industry produce semiconductor chips for computers economically.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, a pioneer in atomic research, is also a pioneer in developing information and technology for the semiconductor industry (see photo). The two roles are not unrelated. "In the 1960's, using the Bulk Shielding Reactor, John Cleland and other ORNL scientists devised a neutral transmutation doping (NTD) method for uniformly distributing phosphorous ions in silicon."^[1] NTD silicon is used in electronic components.

Although a 1991 World Technology (WTEC) study revealed that "all European countries that operate nuclear power plants, as well as Canada, Japan, and the U.S., are moving toward the use of digital computers.,"^[2] it was probably not until the Y2K that the public developed a sense of their impact and potential impact. The WTEC study concluded that, at that time, U.S. nuclear plants were lagging behind other countries in using digital systems, although "the hardware for digital systems comes mostly from U.S. computer companies."^[3]

But if there was a "computer gap," it appears to have closed as U.S. plants come to increasingly rely on them. Vermont Yankee used a computer model to analyze the impact of its 20 percent uprate of capacity, incorporating new data as the changes were being implemented. A student at the University of Wisconsin, College of Engineering, developed a model to study Kewaunee's cooling system. But the computer's relationship to nuclear power extends far beyond the perimeters of its nuclear power plants. Computers play an essential role in monitoring nuclear stockpiles.

License Renewal

All Tennessee reactors are fairly new, and no renewal applications are currently on file.  The first license to expire will be for Sequoyah 1 in September 2020.    To learn the current status of license applications for other U.S. reactors, consult the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) web site.

Air Quality in Tennessee

Of the 50 States plus the District of Columbia, the electric industry of the State of Tennessee ranked 15th highest in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2004. The State’s electric industry ranks 13th  highest in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and 14th  highest in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

Tennessee Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1990-2004 Metric Tons
Year	Carbon Dioxide CO2	Sulfur Dioxide SO2	Nitrogen Oxides NOX
1990	52,387,071	763,794	238,960
1991	49,837,278	726,663	221,711
1992	52,284,359	768,960	227,860
1993	60,592,010	816,030	264,565
1994	54,640,936	775,207	230,582
1995	58,678,739	499,714	242,599
1996	57,821,929	518,983	254,621
1997	60,531,990	501,302	271,540
1998	59,371,498	438,951	227,174
1999	58,748,956	447,194	185,191
2000	63,311,260	435,780	159,730
2001	60,971,644	379,114	164,995
2002	59,112,908	329,924	153,818
2003	55,820,373	344,471	129,206
2004	58,491,040	317,780	105,170
Source: EIA-767 and EIA-906 Survey, Energy Information Administration

Tennessee Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1990-2004 (CO2)*

*Carbon Dioxide

Tennessee Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1990-2004 (SO2)*

*Sulfur Dioxide

Tennessee Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1990-2004 (NOX)*

*Nitrogen Oxide

More Information on Tennessee and Nuclear Power

University of Tennessee Nuclear Engineering Department. The Department will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2007.

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