Tennessee Valley Authority 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The TVA Regional Energy Resource Council (RERC) will hold a meeting on October 3, 2024, to receive an update and discuss the September publication and results of TVA's Draft 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and associated Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The IRP provides strategic direction on how TVA will continue to provide low-cost, reliable, resilient, and increasingly cleaner electricity to the 10 million residents of the Valley region. The RERC will also receive an update on TVA's Innovation Research efforts.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern floating cabins located on the Tennessee River System.

The TVA Regional Resource Stewardship Council (RRSC) will hold a virtual meeting on August 13, 2024, to kick off the 13th term of the RRSC. The Council will receive updates about TVA's work in Natural Resources, River Management, and Cultural Compliance. RRSC members will also hear an update on the development of TVA's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is amending the April 5, 2017 Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Production of Tritium in a Commercial Light Water Reactor (CLWR). The SEIS was issued March 4, 2016, by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and adopted by TVA in its 2017 ROD. TVA is amending its previous decision to increase the number of tritium- producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) irradiated in its reactors at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN). In partnership with NNSA, TVA initially decided to implement the CLWR SEIS Preferred Alternative, Alternative 6, which allows for the irradiation of up to a total of 5,000 TPBARs every 18 months using TVA reactors at both the WBN and Sequoyah sites. Subsequent to the CLWR SEIS, WBN Unit 1 increased production under Unit 1 License Amendment 107 (July 2016) and Unit 2 tritium production was authorized under Unit 2 License Amendment 27 (May 2019). In April 2024, WBN Units 1 and 2 were further authorized to increase their tritium productions to 2,496 TPBARs in each unit under Unit 1 License Amendment 165 and Unit 2 License Amendment 72. Hence, TVA and NNSA are now opting to choose the previously analyzed CLWR SEIS Alternative 4, which allows for the irradiation of up to a total of 5,000 TPBARs every 18 months at WBN using Units 1 and 2.

At its meeting on November 9, 2023, in Tupelo, Mississippi, the TVA Board made its determinations on the PURPA standards as set forth in the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), as amended by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA). The TVA Board considered the standards in accordance with PURPA and the objectives and requirements of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, as amended (TVA Act).

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has made a decision to adopt the Preferred Alternative identified in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the retirement of the Kingston Fossil Plant (KIF). The Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Kingston Retirement Final EIS was published in the Federal Register on February 23, 2024. TVA's Preferred Alternative, Alternative A, involves the retirement of KIF, decommissioning and demolition of KIF's nine coal-fired units, and the construction and operation of facilities to replace the retired generation that include a single natural gas-fired combined cycle (CC) plant, 16 dual-fuel aeroderivative combustion turbines (aero CTs) and a new switchyard (hereafter the CC/aero CT Plant), a 3 to 4 megawatt (MW) solar site, a 100 MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS), and new transmission line infrastructure. Alternative A also involves the Ridgeline Expansion Project, consisting of a new 122-mile natural gas pipeline, compressor station, and metering and regulation facilities to be constructed, owned, and operated by East Tennessee Natural Gas, LLC (ETNG). Alternative A will achieve the purpose and need to have firm, dispatchable replacement generation to meet capacity system demands, particularly peak load events, by the end of 2027 when KIF is retired. Alternative A will also facilitate the integration of additional solar and battery storage resources elsewhere on TVA's system, which is part of TVA's overall asset planning that includes the deployment and installation of up to 10,000 MW of solar by 2035.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has decided to adopt the Preferred Alternative identified in the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) Subsequent License Renewal (SLR) project Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final SEIS). The Notice of Availability of the Final SEIS for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Subsequent License Renewal project was published in the Federal Register on August 11, 2023. The Preferred Alternative, Alternative BBFN Units 1, 2, and 3 Subsequent License Renewal, supports TVA's goal to continue to generate baseload power at the BFN site between 2033 and 2056, thus generating sufficient electricity to supply the Tennessee Valley with increasingly clean, reliable, and affordable electricity for the region's homes and businesses as outlined in TVA's 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).