For sale: Cheap. Never completed nuclear power plant. Only $36 billion. It’s a want ad you won’t read in the newspaper as the Tennessee Valley Authority decided recently to declare the Bellefonte nuclear plant near Hollywood, Alabama to be surplus.
While the 1,600 acre site is unfinished, it’s cost more than $4 billion over the past four decades and will be sold at auction to the highest bidder. The winning bidder will get two partially finished nuclear reactors, office buildings, warehouses, parking areas, railroad spurs and a helicopter pad, according to the Associated Press.
The TVA admits the decision is only the latest blow to the nuclear power industry, an industry hurt by cheap natural gas, high construction costs and relatively flat demand for power.