Browns Ferry nuclear power plant
Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in United States with 3 operating units totalling 3,775 MW gross. The site has 3 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | BWR | BWR-4 (Mark 1) | 1,256 | 1974 | |
| Unit 2 | BWR | BWR-4 (Mark 1) | 1,259 | 1975 | |
| Unit 3 | BWR | BWR-4 (Mark 1) | 1,260 | 1977 |
Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is the 3rd largest of 54 operating nuclear sites in the United States, holding 4% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 29th of 172 worldwide.
Its operating units started up between 1974 and 1977; the median unit is 51.0 years old, older than the median of 45.0 in the United States.
The 3 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 6.5 to 8.2 years (median 7.3) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1970s is 5.4 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Sequoyah nuclear power plant (194 km) and Watts Bar nuclear power plant (234 km).
3 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit 1 +12.7%, Unit 2 +12.7% and Unit 3 +13.6%.
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1967 | 1973 | 6.5 | 5.4 (1970s) |
| Unit 2 | 1967 | 1974 | 7.3 | 5.4 (1970s) |
| Unit 3 | 1968 | 1976 | 8.2 | 5.4 (1970s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequoyah nuclear power plant | United States | 194 km | 2.4 |
| Watts Bar nuclear power plant | United States | 234 km | 2.4 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Browns Ferry nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | Alabama, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34.7042, -87.1189 |
| Elevation | about 205 mabove sea level |
| Setting | About 450 km from the sea |
| Region | Northern America |
| Units by status | Operating: 3 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Tennessee Valley Authority |
|---|---|
| Operators | Tennessee Valley Authority |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data