Plans unveiled for completion of Bellefonte nuclear plant

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Bellefonte nuclear power plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site in Hollywood, Ala.

After spending more than 40 years and $5 billion on an unfinished nuclear power plant in northeastern Alabama, the nation’s largest federal utility sold the property at auction back in 2016 for a fraction of its cost.

The Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station in Hollywood, Ala was sold by the Tennessee Valley Authority for $111 million to Nuclear Development (ND) LLC in Nov. 2016.

According to Shelia Shepard, the president and CEO of the Jackson County Economic Development Authority, where the plant is located, ND has made “much progress “ at the site in the past year and a half.

Last month, ND brought on SNC-Lavalin, one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world, to manage the completion of the construction project. On Friday, Huntsville-based Teledyne Brown Engineering announced it would be working with SNC-Lavalin on the project.

“We are pleased to participate in the completion of Bellefonte in support of renewed interest in nuclear power as an energy source that is necessary for the overall energy portfolio for the United States,” said Jan Hess, President of Teledyne Brown Engineering, in a press release.

Possible services to be provided by Teledyne Brown Engineering include engineering and technical expertise, which will consist of nuclear subject matter experts in the areas of engineering, design, licensing, maintenance, work controls, and equipment refurbishment. The company has been supporting energy and nuclear industries for over five decades. Teledyne Brown Engineering’s Huntsville campus is located 45 miles away from the site and is in a prime location to provide support and expertise. The company will assist the SNC-Lavalin team as needed during the design, construction, start-up and steady state delivery phases of the Bellefonte project.

On Monday, SNC-Lavalin and ND announced plans to the community that they are working to complete the unfinished plant. The project is expected to create several thousand construction jobs and approximately 1,500 permanent jobs over the next decade.