That the Tennessee Valley Authority, arguably one of American history's most famous public works projects, has been pursuing the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tennessee after 36 years is testament to endurance, namely being willing to persist in the face of bizarre government obstacles that the modern Nuclear Regulatory Commission, run by people without nuclear expertise, exists to create.
Though approved in 1973, the near-disaster at Three Mile Island in 1979 put Democrats squarely against nuclear science and concerns - some manufactured (quality assurance records with incomplete information) and some real (concerns about welding in non-critical areas) - led to delays.
$4 billion later and 36 years later, it is almost done - if the Obama administration does not pull a Yucca Mountain and just never approve it. The good news is that since demand in Tennessee is flat, they can scuttle coal plants, and nuclear energy is emissions-free.
Predictably, the anti-science group Union of Concerned Scientists is raising the alarm about the plant...because it is no longer new. And what else do the protest? New nuclear plants.
