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 TVA
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a partnership
agreement to cooperate on environmental programs, including environmental
research, policy, and demonstration projects. Under the agreement, TVA
and EPA will exchange services and share equipment, research facilities,
data, and information. The agencies will work together on issues ranging
from air and water quality to responses to environmental emergencies.
In
February a ruptured pipeline at a private storage facility spilled some
45,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the Tennessee River at Knoxville,
Tennessee. TVA’s technical expertise and special operations at
two dams upstream and one downstream of the spill helped minimize environmental
damage and facilitate cleanup.
After
receiving extensive public input, TVA announced a new shoreline-management
policy, which includes modified standards for docks, erosion control,
and vegetation. The new policy increases flexibility in accommodating
shoreline-development needs while ensuring conservation of natural and
cultural resources.
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“TVA’s
Site Selector is a tremendous tool. To my knowledge, there isn’t
another program that has this level of sophistication. It’s
comprehensive, detailed, and graphically developed. It has changed
the way we’re doing proposals, shortened our response time,
enhanced the look and the professionalism, and taken our presentations
and our community’s presentations to a whole different level.”
—Mike
Philpot, Executive Director,
West Tennessee Industrial Association, Jackson, Tenn.
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TVA
received a patent in March for a cost-effective wastewater-treatment
technology that efficiently removes pollutants from water using natural
wetlands processes. The technology is being demonstrated in seven locations
to treat municipal sewage and contaminated surface and groundwater.
The new system is about 50 percent less expensive to operate and maintain
than conventional systems.
For
the third consecutive year a leading nuclear-industry publication, Nucleonics
Week, ranked three TVA units among the 25 best in the nation based on
productivity, total generation, and operations and maintenance costs.
For
the third consecutive time, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant employees set a world
refueling record for plants of similar design by returning Unit 2 to
service in just 23 days, beating the old record by almost a week.
Unit
1 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant set a TVA record for pressurized water
reactors by operating continuously for 352 days before shutting down
for planned refueling and maintenance.
Modifications
made during refueling outages at Browns Ferry and Watts Bar nuclear
plants increased generation capacity by 126 megawatts.
In
January TVA’s Transmission/Power Supply Group restored power the
same day that tornadoes, which destroyed or damaged parts of Jackson
and Clarksville, Tennessee, also damaged 58 transmission structures
and 15 transmission lines.
Work
is in progress to automate the operation of all 29 TVA hydro facilities.
Douglas Dam in upper northeast Tennessee is the first hydro facility
to be controlled and managed from TVA’s new Hydro Dispatch Control
Center. Automation work at Cherokee, Fontana, and Norris dams was also
completed in 1999.
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