The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to fully decommission and remove power generation facilities at the retired Widows Creek Fossil Plant near Stevenson, Ala., making it available for commercial or industrial use.
TVA examined five possible alternatives for the site -- maintaining the existing structures and equipment; a no action alternative, and three differing deconstruction options -- as part of an Environmental Assessment.
A Finding of No Significant Impact was issued on Thursday in support of TVA’s preferred alternative, which is to return the site to a “brownfield” state through demolition to grade with controlled explosive demolition of the plant’s three chimneys.
The final method of demolition will be determined during development of the deconstruction plan. The EA found only minor impacts associated with all three deconstruction options, all of which include demolition of the main structure. In the future, TVA could select either of the other two deconstruction alternatives as the preferred method, which would involve either dismantling the plant’s chimneys or a combination of demolition and dismantlement of the chimneys.
Demolition work is scheduled to begin in late 2017.
Officials said, "This project supports TVA’s plan to appropriately manage disposal of buildings and physical structures that are no longer used for power generation or support the TVA mission."
The Final EA and FONSI is available online at www.tva.com/nepa or in writing by contacting Ashley Farless, Tennessee Valley Authority, 1101 Market St., BR 4A, Chattanooga, TN, 37402.