Business Briefs: TVA leads in problem plants

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

photo TVA logo

TVA leads in problem plants

The Tennessee Valley Authority has five operating nuclear reactors under heightened regulatory oversight - the most of any U.S. utility, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported this week in its latest action matrix summary.

Of the 103 U.S. reactors, 24 are under some type of additional NRC oversight. TVA's Browns Ferry Unit 2, Watts Bar Unit 1 and both of TVA's Sequoyah units are in the degraded cornerstone column by the NRC. Unit 1 of Browns Ferry is designated as the only unit in the country in the NRC's multiple repetitive degraded cornerstone column. TVA miscalculated the flood risk of most of its nuclear plants on the Tennessee River and has suffered from human errors and equipment problems in key safety systems.

Hampton Inn open in Kimball, Tenn.

Chattanooga hotel-development company Vision Hospitality Group, Inc. opened a new Hampton Inn in Kimball, Tenn., on Tuesday.

The 80-room Hampton Inn is the only Hilton-branded hotel in Marion County and features 500 square feet of meeting space. Vision Hospitality currently has 26 hotels open or under development in Tennessee. The company opened a Hampton Inn & Suites at Hamilton Place in Chattanooga on Oct. 29.