Widows Creek Power Plant

Widows Creek Power Plant was a major 1600-MWe coal-fired power station, 4.8mi east of Stevenson, Alabama USA. The plant, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, generated about nine billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. It has one of the tallest chimneys in the world at 305m, which was built in 1977.HistoryInitially, six identical 140-MWe units were built between 1952 and 1954. Two more units (575 and 550 MWe name-plate capacity) were added in 1961 and 1965.The last load of coal was delivered to the plant on 18 September 2015, with only one of its eight generation units working. The coal was enough to power unit 8 until 23 September 2015.Accidents and incidentsJanuary 2009 gypsum slurry spillOn January 9, 2009, the plant experienced a dam break on a gypsum slurry pond, and spilled up to 10000USgal of waste into the creek of the same name on the property, inundating it with an ashlike substance.EPA compliance agreementOn April 14, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at 11 of its coal-fired plants in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Under the terms of the agreement, the entire Widows Creek plant will be affected: Units 1 - 6 will be retired in stages of two units per year, beginning by July 31, 2013 and ending by July 31, 2015 Units 7 & 8 will be fitted with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) devices to reduce their emissions of NOx