Watts Bar Steam Plant was a 267-megawatt ( MW), coal power plant operated by the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

(TVA) located in

Rhea County, Tennessee Rhea County (pronounced ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,870. Its county seat is Dayton. Rhea County comprises the Dayton, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also inclu ...

near the present site of

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear reactor pair used for electric power generation. It is located on a 1,770-acre (7.2 km²) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between the cities of Chat ...

and

Watts Bar Dam Watts Bar Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Meigs and Rhea counties in Tennessee, United States. The dam is one of nine dams on the main Tennessee River channel operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam i ...

. The plant was the first coal-fired power plant constructed by TVA.

Description

The Watts Bar Steam Plant consisted of four units listed as units A, B, C, and D, with a combined generating capacity of 267

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

s. The plant was the first coal-fired plant constructed by TVA. The interior of the plant contained a vantage point for people to view the turbine room and a spacious overlook balcony, which was also included at future plants.

History

The Watts Bar Steam Plant was authorized for construction on July 31, 1940, and construction began just one week later. The plant was initially planned as part of an effort to provide power to the defense industry, and originally only two units with a capacity of 60 MWe each were planned, but a third and fourth were added in April and December 1941, respectively. The first unit at the Watts Bar Steam Plant, Unit B began operations on March 16, 1942, one month after Watts Bar Dam. Unit A began operations later that year, and unit C began operation in 1943 and unit D in 1945. As TVA's first coal plant, it was intended to be a blueprint for future power plants. The plant was shut down between 1957 and 1972 and during this time precipitators were installed to meet emissions regulations. In 1973, construction began nearby on the two units of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. The Watts Bar Steam Plant was retired in 1982, and demolished in 2011. The units at the nuclear plant, of which construction had been suspended in 1985, began operations in 1996, and 2016, respectively, the two newest nuclear power units to come online in the United States.

References

{{Tennessee Valley Authority Facilities Energy infrastructure completed in 1942 Tennessee Valley Authority Former coal-fired power stations in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Rhea County, Tennessee 1942 establishments in Tennessee 1982 disestablishments in Tennessee Buildings and structures demolished in 2011

Description

History

See also

References