Tennessee Valley Authority

On December 12, 1994, Craven Crowell, chairman of the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), issued two well-publicized announcements. First, TVA would not finish three of the nuclear units it has had under construction since the 1970s, unless it could find partners willing to share their construction costs (a prospect he subsequently characterized as "very slim,").1 Second, TVA planned to set an internal cap on its total debt at a level $2 to $3 billion below the $30-billion limit imposed by the Congress.

Over 300 bills were introduced in the first week of the new Congress that convened in January, among them a bill by Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA) aimed at correcting the government's seriously flawed nuclear waste storage program. Johnston heralded S.

Paul J. Evanson was named president of Florida Power & Light Co. to succeed Stephen E. Frank, who resigned in January. Frank led the company through a tough restructuring process. Evanson, 53, previously was v.p., finance, and CFO for both Florida Power & Light and FPL Group Inc. Evanson will be succeeded by Michael W.

The fledgling industry is also staking out its regulatory territory. Notably, on December 14, the FERC ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to provide nonfirm transmission service to AES Power Inc.

Succumbing to the pressure of its debts, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has halted construction on three nuclear power plants, the only remaining incomplete plants in the nation. According to chairman Craven Crowell, TVA can no longer foot the bill alone. So far, TVA has invested about $4.6 billion in two unfinished units at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama, and $1.7 billion in Watts Bar 2 in Tennessee. TVA estimates it will cost as much as $8.8 billion to finish all three units. (The Bellefonte units are 88 percent and 57 percent complete, respectively.

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