Power Plants
TVA Plant Profits as Scrapheap
Sure, you can toss an aluminum can or a cardboard box in a bin and call it recycling. But an entire power plant?
The Tennessee Valley Authority is turning its old Watts Bar plant into scrap cash. (Photo By: TVA)
That’s exactly what the Tennessee Valley Authority is doing with its long-shuttered Watts Bar fossil fuel plant.
Just before Christmas, TVA finished dismantling the facility near Spring City in east Tennessee. To defray deconstruction costs, it has either reused or sold to recycling companies about 90 percent of the building materials.
In particular, the nation’s largest public power provider eyed the high prices for copper that have attracted thieves to many of its facilities, and decided to cash in legitimately on the demand for metals.
“By doing the deconstruction now, we are taking advantage of a strong market for scrap metals, which will help keep the cost of the project very low,” said Robert Fisher, TVA senior vice president for fossil generation.
Watts Bar was TVA’s first coal plant, and started operating in 1942. At its peak, its four units generated 260 megawatts of power. TVA removed the plant from service in the 1980s and used it as a training facility until 1992.
TVA officials estimate the deconstruction, put at about $1.2 million, will pay for itself quickly―the authority currently shells out $1 million in annual maintenance costs.
“The structure had become a drain on TVA’s resources and a potential safety hazard,” Fisher said.
TVA will retain ownership of the property, which adjoins Watts Bar Nuclear Plant and Watts Bar Dam, but did not announce any plans for the land. It sells wholesale power to 155 co-ops and municipal systems in the Southeast.