Bellefonte auction announced

A two-stage auction process is to be used to complete the sale of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant site, the company appointed by the Tennessee Valley Authority to manage the sale has announced. The sale is expected to be completed by October.

A two-stage auction process is to be used to complete the sale of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant site, the company appointed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to manage the sale has announced. The sale is expected to be completed by October.

The partially-built Bellefonte plant (Image: TVA)

TVA announced in May that its board had voted to sell the Bellefonte site, with its two partially built reactors and other infrastructure, to the highest bidder. At that time, CEO Bill Johnson said that, against a background of lower energy demand and changing usage patterns, TVA's 2015 Integrated Resource Plan determined that it will not need to build any new large-scale baseload capacity for at least the next 20 years.

Concentric Energy Advisors Inc - retained by TVA to manage the auction - said today that an initial indicative bidding process will take place on or before 9 September. Following a detailed due diligence period, a second and final round of bidding will take place and close with a public auction in October.

TVA purchased Bellefonte, in northern Alabama, in 1974 and began work to build two Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactors. Construction was suspended in 1988, when unit 1 was about 90% complete and unit 2 58% complete. Since then, many of the units' components have been transferred or sold, while others would need to be upgraded or replaced, meaning that the levels of completion of the units today are substantially lower. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission reinstated the construction permits for the units in 2009.

The sale includes a site of some 1600 acres (650 hectares) and the two partially built reactors, as well as on-site infrastructure including switchyards, office buildings, warehouses, cooling towers, water pumping stations and railroad spurs.

In May, TVA's executive vice-president and General Counsel Sherry Quirk said an independent appraisal had valued the site at $36.4 million.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News