Construction on the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant
began in 1973, and the first of its two nuclear reactorsa Westinghouse pressurized water reactorbegan operating in 1996. Reactor 2 was nearly 80 percent complete in 1988, when the TVA decided to halt construction based on a decreased demand for the electricity it was slated to generate. A growing need for energy caused the TVA to resume construction in 2007, giving Reactor 2 an estimated December 2015 operation date. However, safety issuesincluding the need to relocate some of the reactor's systems above flood linesmay lead to further delays. Costs for the reactor have nearly doubled since the initial estimate of $2.5 billion, and the TVA has already invested close to $10 billion in the overall site.