Setting the Bar at Watts Bar

摘要

Bob Williams, TVA's Watts Bar Fu-kushima project manager, was in a tight spot in August 2012 when the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its orders concerning nuclear plant modifications in response to the Fuku-shima Daiichi accident. Construction of TVA's new nuclear plant, Watts Bar Unit 2, was well underway when Fukushima happened. The NRC order required operating plants to be in compliance within two operating cycles, but required construction permit plants like Watts Bar 2 to be in compliance before receiving an operating license. So while the existing Watts Bar Unit 1 would need to be in compliance by October 2015, Unit 2 had to get there by early Fall 2014.