Browns Ferry 2 trips offline, unscheduled outage underway

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Browns Ferry 2, Athens, Alabama.

Browns Ferry 2 began an unscheduled forced short outage on August 27, 2026. This event ended a 448 day streak of operation without an unscheduled outage for the 1,259-MW General Electric BWR/4 unit.

The unit has recorded one forced outage so far in 2026, compared to two forced outages during the entirety of 2025. Tennessee Valley Authority operates this unit along with six other U.S. nuclear units. Across the industry, 94 units are currently operating at a 97.6 percent capacity factor, with two units currently in unscheduled outages and zero units in refueling.

ATHENS, AL. Browns Ferry 2 dropped offline on Aug 27, 2026, beginning an unscheduled outage. The NRC has not yet issued an event notification for this trip; a follow-up reply will be posted here if one is filed.

This is the first unscheduled outage of 2026 for the unit, which had 2 unscheduled outages in all of 2025. Prior to this trip, the unit had gone about 15 months without an unscheduled outage.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 97.6% (2 units in unscheduled outages), below the 97.9% baseline for this month over the past five years. At the same site, Browns Ferry 1 and Browns Ferry 3 are both running at full power. While the unit is down, that takes about 1 million homes' worth of generation off the grid.

Browns Ferry 2 is a 1,259-MW General Electric BWR/4 operated by Tennessee Valley Authority (commercial operation since 1975). The utility operates 6 other U.S. nuclear units. Its operating license runs through 2054 (renewed in 2025).

View Browns Ferry 2's ratings, history, projections, and current status on NukeWorker. This thread will be updated when the unit returns to service.

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Sources: NRC Daily Reactor Power Status reports, utility-published outage schedules, and NukeWorker's projections.

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Browns Ferry 2 returned to service on August 31, 2026, following a five-day forced short outage that began on August 27. The actual duration of the outage was two days shorter than the initial seven-day projection provided by NukeWorker.

This event marks the first forced outage for the 1,259-MW General Electric BWR/4 unit during 2026, compared to two forced outages recorded throughout 2025. Tennessee Valley Authority operates this unit along with six other nuclear units in the United States. Across the industry, the current fleet of 94 units maintains a 98 percent capacity factor with zero units currently in refueling or unscheduled outages.

Browns Ferry 2 returned to service on Aug 31, 2026 after a 5-day unscheduled outage that began on Aug 27, 2026. A multi-day outage in this range typically points to a single equipment fix rather than a major component issue.

NukeWorker's projection had this at about 4 days at outage start; actual duration matched within a day.

The 5-day outage removed roughly 139,000 MWh from the grid, worth approximately $6 million at recent wholesale prices, equivalent to a year's electricity for about 13,000 homes.

View Browns Ferry 2's ratings, history, projections, and current status on NukeWorker.

Want the full picture? Subscribe to the NukeWorker outage schedule for every current and upcoming U.S. nuclear outage.

Sources: NRC Daily Reactor Power Status reports, utility-published outage schedules, and NukeWorker's projections.