Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant

Steam billows from TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant unit number one on Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998, in Spring City, Tenn. The U.S. Department of Energy asked for public comment Thursday on its plans to produce bomb material in a commercial nuclear reactor. DOE is considering three Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear plants for production of tritium, a form of hydrogen gas that intensifies the explosive force of a nuclear warhead. It would be the first time the United States has used a civilian reactor as its source for tritium.