Johnsonville Fossil Plant has 25 groundwater monitoring wells, 16 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between March 10, 2010 and October 10, 2019. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of boron, cobalt, manganese, sulfate, cadmium, nickel, antimony, lead and lithium.
Site descriptionJohnsonville Fossil Plant was a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Waverly, Tennessee in Humphreys County. The station opened in 1951 and used to generate 1,485-MW. The coal-fired power station retired as a result of a 2011 EPA settlement. Units 5-10 were idled in 2012 and closed in 2015. Units 1-4 were shut down on December 31, 2017. There are four ash disposal areas at the Johnsonville Fossil Plant, including an 87-acre unlined island in the Tennessee River, a closed dredged ash disposal area, a closed disposal area in the South Railroad Loop, and an abandoned, unlined coal ash pond north of the plant. The Active Ash Pond 2 is regulated under the CCR rule. This site is among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of potential damage cases.
You can find the industry reported data here. For more information about Johnsonville Fossil Plant, see EIP's reports: TVA's Toxic Legacy and EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report Coal's Poisonous Legacy.
For more information about coal ash in Tennessee, see Earthjustice's fact sheet, Tennessee and Coal Ash Disposal in Ponds and Landfill.