The last time TVA ever shuttered a coal plant was in 1983, but on Friday, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced that it is shutting down 7% of its coal power production under a ten-year plan to switch from coal to nuclear power. More than 60% of the electricity under TVA control comes from coal.

More than 1,000 MW of aging coal plants, grandfathered in under more lenient EPA rules in the past, are to be taken offline. To replace the energy they were belching out, President Tom Kilgore announced that the TVA will restart work on the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama, that has remained unfinished since 1988.

The TVA has included $248 million in next years budget to restart the nuclear project, currently estimated to cost $4.7 billion by the time it is complete, and expected to raise ratepayers rates.
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