The multibillion-dollar completion of a nuclear unit at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s unfinished 1,260-MW Bellefonte plant in Alabama is in limbo after the federal power producer refused to complete its sale to Nuclear Development LLC, which has since filed a breach of contract complaint in federal district court.
At issue is the transfer by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of deferred construction permits. One unit at the site was about 90% complete, the other 58% finished when construction was stopped in 1988. In 2016, TVA declared the property surplus and put it up for sale. Nuclear Development was the highest bidder.