Browns Ferry is 104th nuclear reactor

ATHENS, Ala., May 22 (UPI) -- There are now 104 reactors serving a fifth of U.S. electricity demand as nuclear proponents applaud the restart of TVA's Browns Ferry Unit 1.

The Tennessee Valley Authority operation was brought back to service after a 22-year mothballing, an initial spark to a resurgence of nuclear energy in the country, the industry hopes.

"Returning Browns Ferry Unit 1 to our nuclear fleet gives TVA another dependable, safe and emissions-free source of generation to help meet the growing demand for power in the Tennessee Valley," said Tom Kilgore, head of TVA, The Chattanoogan reports.

The plant is located near Athens, Ala., on the Tennessee River. The TVA spent $1.8 billion to bring the reactor back online. It was shuttered in 1985, 10 years after a fire caused major damage and a yearlong outage. All three of the Browns Ferry reactors have a capacity of 1,113 megawatts each.

Frank "Skip" Bowman, head of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade arm, praised the restart.

"Browns Ferry 1 will provide electricity to more than 600,000 homes and businesses in one of the fastest growing regions of the country," he said in a statement. "We believe this project will mark the beginning of nuclear energy's rejuvenation in the United States."

The United States has more nuclear plants than any country in the world, though it hasn't licensed a new reactor since 1978. The Browns Ferry fire was dwarfed by the accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and the disaster of Chernobyl, in what is now Ukraine. That, along with the high construction costs of nuclear power and low cost of natural gas at the time, led to a virtual freeze in nuclear energy growth in the country.

But a growing demand for electricity, and federal incentives, has motivated nuclear firms. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects around 30 applications for new reactor licenses in coming years.