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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2016
reliable,
and
economical
generation for homes and
businesses in the Tennessee
Valley.
o
TVA is experienced at managing
multi-unit sites and is prepared
to successfully operate and
maintain two units at Watts Bar
Nuclear Plant.
o
Historic milestones are being
achieved as Unit 2 is completed
the right way – safely, with
quality, and in a manner to
ensure regulatory compliance
and excellence in operations.
Productivity/Efficiency
Early in 2014, the continued progress
toward Watts Bar Unit 2 completion
required an expanded, strategic and
coordinated outreach effort to improve
public and regulatory confidence in the
project and support licensing. Previous
communications support had been
provided by a site communicator and a
member of the site’s management team.
TVA’s vice president of Communications
and the Watts Bar senior vice president
directing construction named a TVA
Communications staff member to
establish and lead a cross-functional
outreach team. With the vice president
of Communications serving as executive
sponsor, the team developed and
implemented a comprehensive outreach
plan over the next 20 months. The team
met weekly to update the plan and track
activities, and a sub-group met with the
Watts Bar senior vice president bi-weekly
to provide updates on progress.
By assigning a dedicated project
manager to the initiative, harnessing the
expertise of professionals throughout
TVA’s Communications organization
and developing and implementing a
comprehensive, dynamic project and
communications plan, the team achieved
solid efficiencies in the approval and
production processes.
One of the two site communicators
at Watts Bar assumed responsibility
for Unit 2-specific communications,
focusing on employee communications.
A long-time TVA communicator working
on the construction staff provided
direct communications support for
the senior vice president in charge of
Unit 2 construction, assuming duties
such as coordinating activity with the
Community Action Panel formed as part
of the stakeholder outreach initiative.
Other Communications department
personnel serving as stakeholder
outreach team members absorbed the
additional work into their ongoing duties
and budget. This included a Media
Relations representative who took lead
responsibility as the Unit 2 spokesperson;
the manager of Nuclear Communications
who integrated Unit 2 stakeholder
outreach in the department’s overall
communications strategy; and the
One of the more than 20 tours that were conducted as part of the WBN2 stakeholder outreach initiative.
Stakeholder
Outreach...
