ATHENS – The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1 was safely returned to power production Saturday afternoon following a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. The scheduled shutdown prepares the unit for the next two years of generating electricity for approximately 2.2 million homes.

“We safely completed the necessary fuel replacement and maintenance to ensure Unit 1 provides reliable power to meet the energy needs of the Valley,” said Matt Rasmussen, Browns Ferry site vice president. “We did these tasks while keeping safety and employee health as our top priorities. We appreciate the continued commitment of our workforce in following additional health guidelines to keep everyone safe.”

More than 10,500 work activities were completed during the outage, including the installation of 316 fuel assemblies. Other outage work activities included maintenance and upgrades to plant equipment, inspections and repairs of reactor components and refurbishment and testing of valves and electrical systems.

Browns Ferry Unit 1 is one of seven operational Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear reactors.