Auditor's report 2016

North of 49°
Ontario Legislation Could 'Make My Apprenticeship Useless'

Au nord du 49° parallèle
La législation de l'Ontario peut rendre « ma formation inutile »

First New U.S. Nuclear Reactor in 20 Years Online at TVA

Last fall, unit 2 at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant became the United States' first new reactor to reach commercial operation in two decades.

The achievement was the final step in a construction project that has spanned more than 43 years and employed thousands of IBEW members along the way.

"This second reactor at Watts Bar has been a long time coming," said Tenth District Vice President Brent E. Hall, "but we're proud to have been a key part of its construction, and now, its operations. Nuclear is still the only reliable source of emissions-free baseload power, so it's exciting to see a new reactor come online even as others around the country are shutting down."

The journey at Watts Bar has indeed been a long one. In 1973, construction began on two planned Westinghouse pressurized water reactors along the banks of the Tennessee River, located about halfway between the cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga. The site joined the Watts Bar dam and the TVA's first coal plant, both completed in 1942, to create the nation's only power complex that generated electricity using hydro, coal and nuclear facilities.

In 1985, with both reactors well under construction, TVA pulled the plug on Unit 2, citing less-than-anticipated demand for power in the region. Unit 1 construction continued, and that reactor became commercially operational in 1996. But in the 20 intervening years, the coal plant closed and the lure of Unit 2's potential 1,150-megawatt output became too strong to ignore.

Stephenson:
The Nuclear Option
Chilia: How Everyone
Can Organize

Fred Compton

IBEW Wins
Communications Awards;
Youth Key to Southern California Local's Success

Article 'Gives Me Hope';
A Great Career;
Convention Coverage
Kudos

November 2016

Father-Son Wireman Duo Put Glow in Indianapolis Tradition