Atlanta, GA – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rejected an appeal filed by the Tennessee Valley Authority after inspectors cited one of its plants in northern Alabama for a serious safety violation.
NRC Regional Administration Victor McCree announced Thursday that the utility did not meet the legal grounds for an appeal. However, McCree said he is forming a panel to make sure regulators took the correct actions.
The agency ordered an in-depth inspection of the Browns Ferry plant in Athens after deciding that a stuck valve on an emergency cooling system constituted a red-level safety finding. Only five red findings have been issued since the current inspection regime started in 2001.
The TVA supplies power to about 9 million people in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)