SNC-Lavalin signs agreement on Bellefonte completion

07 June 2018

SNC-Lavalin subsidiary SNC-Lavalin Nuclear (USA) Inc has signed a letter of agreement (LOA) with Nuclear Development LLC to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) management services to complete construction of Bellefonte 1. Nuclear Development's acquisition of the Alabama facility is due to close later this year.

Bellefonte (Image: TVA)

Nuclear Development successfully bid to buy the partially-completed Bellefonte nuclear power plant from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in a two-part auction held in November 2016. The privately-owned company bid USD111 million for the site, with its two partially-built pressurised water reactors (PWRs) plus infrastructure including switchyards, office buildings, warehouses, cooling towers, water pumping stations and railroad spurs. It was given two years to close on the property, which in the meantime is being maintained by TVA.

If the acquisition is not completed in the specified timeframe the LOA will expire on 31 December 2018, SNC-Lavalin told World Nuclear News.

SNC-Lavalin Chief Nuclear Officer Preston Swafford said: "The impetus to complete the Bellefonte plant signifies that nuclear power has regained interest as an energy source that is necessary as part of the overall energy portfolio in the US."

Sandy Taylor, president of SNC-Lavalin's nuclear sector, added: "SNC-Lavalin is collaboratively working with many major nuclear vendors in North America to form the most capable team that has the depth and breadth of experience to complete this nuclear project."

TVA purchased Bellefonte, near Hollywood in northern Alabama, in 1974 and began work to build two Babcock & Wilcox PWRs. Construction was suspended in 1988, when unit 1 was about 90% complete and unit 2 58% complete. Since then, many of the units' components have been transferred or sold, while others would need to be upgraded or replaced, meaning that the levels of completion of the units today are substantially lower.

TVA in 2011 announced plans to complete unit 1 following the completion of Watts Bar 2. However, against a background of lower energy demand and changing usage patterns, TVA's 2015 Integrated Resource Plan determined that it would not need to build any new large-scale baseload capacity for at least the next 20 years, and the authority decided to auction off Bellefonte to the highest bidder.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News