Watts Bar nuclear power plant 1
Gross capacity
1,210MW
Watts Bar nuclear power plant 1 is a pressurised water reactor unit at Watts Bar nuclear power plant in United States rated at 1,210 MW gross. It is operating. Commercial operation began 27 May 1996.
Specification
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Westinghouse 4-loopWH 4LP (ICECND) in the source |
| Size | Largeabove 300 MWe |
| Coolant | Light water |
| Moderator | Light water |
| Gross capacity | 1,210MW |
| Net capacity (reference) | 1,157MW |
| Net capacity (design) | 1,218MW |
| Thermal output | 3,459MWt |
| NSSS vendor | Westinghouse Electric Companyall vendors |
| Typical enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
Ownership & location
| Site | Watts Bar nuclear power plant |
|---|---|
| Unit | 1 |
| Country | United States |
| Owner | Tennessee Valley Authority100% |
| Operator | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| Coordinates | 35.6021, -84.7895 |
Live status
NRC daily report, unit key "Watts Bar 1"
Power level
…
loading
Last 90 days
Updated daily from the US reactor status feed. The NRC publishes a power
percentage only, with no reason for a reduction, so a unit at 0% may be refuelling, in a planned
outage or tripped. See outages.
Fuel chain for this unit
Fuel form
Uranium dioxide pellets in zirconium-alloy cladding
Enrichment
3–5% U-235
Who makes this assembly
- China National Nuclear Corporation PWR fuel assemblies
- ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas PWR and BWR fuel assemblies
- Framatome PWR fuel assemblies
- KEPCO Nuclear Fuel PWR fuel assemblies
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries PWR fuel assemblies
- Westinghouse Electric Company PWR fuel assemblies
Upstream
Enriched fuel means this unit sits downstream of five conversion plants and four enrichment operators holding 88% of world capacity between the top three.
Fabricator capability is recorded against reactor type and model line, not against named units,
utilities do not publish fuel contracts. See the fuel chain.
Timeline
- 20 Jul 1973Construction start
- 1 Jan 1996First criticality
- 6 Feb 1996Grid connection
- 27 May 1996Commercial operation
Other units at Watts Bar nuclear power plant
| Unit | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|
| Watts Bar nuclear power plant 2 | 1,218 |
Other WH 4LP (ICECND) units
8 units worldwide share this model designation.
| Unit | Country | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catawba nuclear power plant 1 | United States | 1,188 | |
| Catawba nuclear power plant 2 | United States | 1,188 | |
| McGuire nuclear power plant 1 | United States | 1,215 | |
| McGuire nuclear power plant 2 | United States | 1,215 | |
| Sequoyah nuclear power plant 1 | United States | 1,221 | |
| Sequoyah nuclear power plant 2 | United States | 1,200 | |
| Watts Bar nuclear power plant 2 | United States | 1,218 |
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06 · this unit last researched by GEM on 2024-05-29
- 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