U.S. Extends Operating License for TVA's Alabama Nuclear Plant

Written by Eric Funderburk for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)

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Summary

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given 20-year operational extensions to all three units of TVA's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama.

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Another 20 Years

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (Knoxville, Tennessee) has announced that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given second license extensions for all three reactors at the utility's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama. Following power uprates performed in 2018 and 2019, the combined units generate around 3.8 gigawatts (GW), making the plant TVA's largest generating asset.

Not only is it TVA's largest generating facility, the Browns Ferry plant was also TVA's first nuclear plant, launching construction in 1966 with Unit 1 beginning to provide power in 1974, followed by Unit 2 in 1975 and Unit 3 in 1977.

As part of the NRC's standard policy for new reactors, each unit initially was licensed to operate for 40 years, into the 2010s.

Initial operating license renewals for the three units was granted in 2006, allowing the units to operate for a total of 60 years to 2033-36.

TVA applied for subsequent license renewals for each of the plant's reactors in early 2024. Following the NRC's approval for continued operation for all three units, Browns Ferry can now operate into the 2050s, representing 80 years of licensed operations.

A Generation Pause

Those units have not provided an uninterrupted supply of power since their 1970s startup, however. In 1985, following a negative evaluation of the plant from the NRC, TVA closed all three units with an aim to return the reactors back to regulatory compliance. Unit 2 was the first unit to return online, in May 1991, followed by Unit 3 in November 1995 and Unit 1 much later in June 2007.

TVA completed uprates to all three units in 2018 and 2019, giving about a 14% boost to power and raising the plant's combined generation to slightly less than 3.8 GW.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.

Other Pending NRC License Renewals

While the process of current license renewals being evaluated by the NRC started before the second administration of President Donald Trump, the White House has been very supportive of increasing nuclear power generation in the U.S., suggesting these pending renewals will face a supportive regulatory environment.

The NRC's website lists two nuclear license extension applications that are currently in review. These include:

• Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 - Located in San Luis Obispo County in California, Pacific Gas & Electric's (PG&E) (Oakland, California) Diablo Canyon facility has been the state's only operational nuclear plant since 2013.
  
  Citing state policies that favored renewables over nuclear power generation in California, PG&E at one point had slated the plant's two units be closed in 2024 and 2025. But when regulators began studying the effects of removing the plant's aggregate 2.2 GW of power from the state at around the same that more than 3 GW of gas-fired power was planned go offline, they pointed out the increased likelihood of subsequent power shortages, and the state's legislators passed a mandate to keep the plant operating through 2030.
  
  Apparently experiencing a more supportive and economically sound environment to operate Diablo Canyon, PG&E later completely reversed course regarding the closure, submitting license renewal applications for both units of the plant in 2023.
  
  The NRC is expected to make a decision regarding those applications early next year, which could put the facility on track to operate until 2045. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the plant profile.
• Clinton Clean Energy Center - The second plant the NRC lists as having a renewal application under review is the sole unit at Constellation Energy's Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois. Similarly to Diablo Canyon, the plant was slated for closure until new climate and economic policies in Illinois favored the continued operations of its nuclear power plants.
  
  In 2024, Constellation submitted its license renewal application for Clinton to the NRC. This move proved prescient as more than year later, in June 2025, the company signed a power purchase agreement with Big Tech behemoth Meta Platforms (Menlo Park, California) for the entirety of the reactor's approximately 1,100 MW of power. The NRC's decision is expected soon. (Click here to see the plant profile.)

Other TVA Units Planned for Renewal

Also listed on the NRC's website as expected to arrive in 2027 is the license renewal for TVA's Watts Bar nuclear power plant in Tennessee. This plant's history provides a snapshot of sorts for the changing attitudes and regulations toward nuclear power in the U.S. Construction on Watts Bar's two reactors was begun in 1973, but work on both was suspended in the 1980s. Construction on Unit 1 subsequently resumed in 1992, and the reactor came online in May 1996. (See plant profile.)

The 55%-completed Unit 2 sat idle even longer, with TVA not resuming construction on it until 2007. Facing cost overruns and delays, the unit wasn't brought online until June 2016. Showing the dearth of U.S. nuclear construction in recent times, Watts Bar units 1 and 2 bookend a 20-year period when no nuclear reactors came online in the U.S.

While not listed on the NRC's website, TVA also has stated that it plans to renew the operating license for another Tennessee nuclear plant, the two-unit Sequoyah nuclear power plant in Hamilton County. The plant generates around 2.4 GW.

TVA and the NRC completed an initial relicensing for both of Sequoyah's units in 2015, allowing them to operate into the early 2040s. Another operating license renewal would extend the plant's operational life into the 2060s. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the plant profile.

Together, Browns Ferry, Watts Bar and Sequoyah represent the entirety of TVA's nuclear portfolio, although that might not always be the case. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy authorized around $400 million in funding for the utility to construct a small modular reactor (SMR), representing less generating capacity but a smaller footprint and reduced construction costs than traditional nuclear plants, at its Clinch River site in Tennessee. For more on that, see December 4, 2025, article - DOE Awards $800 Million for U.S. SMR Development.

Key Takeaways

• The NRC has granted TVA a license extension for its Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama.
• The plant's three units can now operate for 80 years since first going online, with their licenses expiring in the 2050s.
• TVA also plans to renew the operating license for its other nuclear plants, Watts Bar and Sequoyah, both located in Tennessee.

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