TVA board votes to sell Bellefonte, Ala. nuclear plant to highest bidder

The nation’s largest public utility is selling a never-completed nuclear plant that has cost more than $4 billion dollars over the past four decades.

The Tennessee Valley Authority board voted Tuesday at a meeting in Buchanan to declare the Bellefonte nuclear plant near Hollywood, Alabama, surplus. The site includes two partially finished nuclear reactors, railroad spurs and a helicopter pad.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson says the 1,600 acre site will be sold at auction to the highest bidder. It has been appraised at $36 million.

The decision to sell is the latest blow to the nuclear power industry, which seemed poised for resurgence a decade ago but has been stymied by cheap natural gas, high construction costs and relatively flat demand for power.

Republished with permission of the Associated Press.