Shadow Dragon

Bull Run Power Plant

January 2024 | United States of America | Demolition Ongoing

My second North American exploration, near Knoxville, Tennessee.

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Commission Date	1967.
Decommission Date	2023.
Capacity	889MW (two cross compound supercritical boilers).
Cooling Towers	None (used Tennessee River for coolant).
Chimney	Single 244 meter (800ft) stack, with later 120 meter (400ft) FGD stack.
Fuel Type(s)	Coal.
Control System	Hard desk controls in situ, later modernised with computers.
Boiler Manufacturer	ABB-CE.
Turbine Manufacturer	General Electric.
OCGT Plant	None.
Architect	Tennessee Valley Authority.
Status	Undergoing demolition.

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***Bull Run Power Plant in the 1970s.***

HISTORY: Bull Run Power Station, known locally as the TVA Bull Run Steam Plant, has its origins in the early 1960s when the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to build a new single unit coal fired power station close to Clinton, Anderson County, East Tennessee, in response to a massive increase in both military and domestic electricity consumption. A budget of $141 million was agreed between President John F. Kennedy and the Chairman of the TVA, Herbert Vogel. Construction began on April 2nd, 1962, and proceeded steadily. The power station was commissioned on the 12th of June, 1967.

At the time of the power station’s commissioning, it was the largest coal fired unit in the world in volume of steam produced an hour. The power station comprises of a single 889MW cross compound unit – two supercritical boilers rated at 540 degrees celsuis and operated at a pressure of 3,650psi both fed one large turbo-generator set. At full generating capacity, Bull Run consumed 7,300 tons of bituminous coal every day. This coal was delivered via a rail siding to the south of the power station.

The power station was later retrofitted with numerous flue gas scrubbing systems, which can be seen quite prominently around the original chimney – the enormous structures in front of the boiler house are electrostatic precipitators, and the second smaller chimney is a flue gas desulphurisation plant. In 2017, Bull Run had been operating for 50 years and by 2019, TVA began considering the closure of the power station because of their planned phasing out of coal fired power stations. The power station was due to close by December 2023 at the latest. It finally closed on December 1st, 2023, marking the end of this once mighty giant.

THE EXPLORE: By the time of my explore at Bull Run, my time in America was quickly coming to an end. I just had to see this industrial behemoth before going back to the UK. And I am very glad I did. I was dropped off one night near the building. Now, being someone who isn’t from America, I was quite nervous about getting caught because as we all know, trespassing is a totally different kettle of fish in the States. Put it this way… you might not get a light tap on the wrist and sent on your way. You could end up in the back of a police car and in a cell and charged for it…! But honestly I would be lying if I said that wasn’t my only concern. My other, much greater concern was skunks. Those things absolutely stink and I did not want to run into one whilst tramping through woodland to get to the power station! I’d smelt skunk a few times and whilst my American friends were not bothered, the stench of those creatures severely nauseated me!

Anyway, back to the explore. I made my way very carefully through the site, keeping an eye out for any sign of security or dogs or cars. Luckily I didn’t see anything. I got to the power station building and made my way inside it, and went to the top. The view from the top of the building was really quite special. The distant lights of Knoxville in the distance, coupled with the bright lights of the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory too. It all made for a nice scene. I worked my way from the top downwards, exploring almost every inch of this building. I have to say it was one of the best power stations I have ever explored. Everything was so neatly laid out and easy to photograph. However I will say I am very glad to have photographed it whilst the internal lights were on – there were no windows at all in the building apart from in the turbine hall so without any lighting the place would have been pitch black.

After making my way to the turbine hall gantry crane, I was greeted with one of the best sights I have seen whilst urban exploring. A huge turbine, with another massive gantry crane, with an American flag hanging from it. What a photo opportunity! I very much enjoyed that. After that, I made my way downwards after eyeballing the door to the control room from the gantry. That was something I wanted to see. However the track record of control rooms having people in them had me wary – I pulled the door open very quietly and stuck my head through, listening. And sure enough, I could hear music coming from what sounded like a phone speaker just behind a canvas screen to my left. I shut the door very quietly and stood there for a while, mulling things over. Should I go get what photos I could from the bits I hadn’t seen yet and then come back and risk photographing it? Or should I leave it? I stood there a while longer, gazing wistfully at the tantalisingly close array of dials and switches I could see. After a bit I said to myself “you’ve come all this way… you might as well double check there’s someone in there” so I decided I would find a way under the control room through the server rooms and come up the other side to see if I could actually see anyone inside the control room. So that’s what I did. After negotiating some particularly loud metal stairs that creaked and boomed under me, I found myself staring at the door to the other side of the control room. I gingerly stuck my head through, peering around. And sure enough… nobody there! I was very pleased. It meant I had the control room to myself. And the source of the music? Someone had left a music video on loop on one of the computers. And it was quite a rude music video too, so I wonder if it was done as a prank! I snapped away in the control room and then made my way out, photographing other things. The exit was really quite nice, as I managed to get some nice externals.

Anyway… enjoy the photographs! They speak for themselves about the majesty of this place.