Hartsville Nuclear Plant, Abandoned industrial project in Tennessee, US
Hartsville Nuclear Plant is an abandoned industrial site in Tennessee, along the Cumberland River, where a four-reactor nuclear power station was planned but never completed. The grounds still hold concrete foundations and partial structures from the construction phase, surrounded by rural land and forest.
The Tennessee Valley Authority began planning and building the plant in the 1970s to meet growing demand for power in the region. After the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, rising costs, and lower-than-expected demand led to the cancellation of Plant B in 1983 and Plant A in 1984.
The site is accessible by road through rural Tennessee and can be viewed from the roadside, though entering old structures is not safe due to unstable conditions. Visiting during daylight hours gives the best view of what remains.
When work stopped in the early 1980s, one reactor pressure vessel had already been installed inside an unfinished building. The large cooling tower stood for decades before it was brought down by a controlled demolition in 2025.
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