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 km) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between Chattanooga and Knoxville. Watts Bar supplies enough electricity for about 1.2 million households in the Tennessee Valley.

Construction of the plant, which has two Westinghousepressurized water reactor units, began in 1973, was suspended in 1985, and resumed in 1992. Unit 1 was completed in 1996, and Unit 2 was completed in 2015. Unit 1 has a winter net dependable generating capacity of 1,167 megawatts. Unit 2 has a capacity of 1,165 megawatts. Unit 2 was the first of three new power reactors to enter service in the 21st century in the United States, followed by Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4.