Bicentennial Volunteers, Inc.
Connecting People with Purpose., Community., Resources., Service., Opportunities.
Bicentennial Volunteers, Inc. (BVI) is a nonprofit organization that oversees two affiliated nonprofits: National Emergency Assistance (NEA) and Retiree Resources Corporation (RRC). Together, these organizations offer Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) retirees and former employees opportunities to engage in volunteer service, support FEMA disaster recovery efforts, and participate in TVA contract work.
Bicentennial Volunteers, Inc.
BVI offers an opportunity to volunteer at the Visitor Centers at Fontana Dam, Kentucky Dam, Norris Dam, and Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Facility along with a variety of other volunteer opportunities.
National Emergency Assistance, Inc.
FEMA relies on NEA employees to augment their disaster assistance endeavors all over the United States.
Retiree Resources Corporation
Many TVA retirees and former employees are working through RRC to provide temporary staff augmentation to TVA.
We seek to make an impact in our Tennessee Valley community through the following efforts each year
STEM grants given to Tennessee Valley teachers
Visitors to the TVA Visitor Centers
Tennessee Valley Robotics Teams entered into competitions
RRC employees supporting TVA through staff augmentation
NEA employees deployed to disaster areas
Retirees doing projects to help improve their communities
What’s New?
Johnsonville’s Jet Set
April 15, 2025
A fleet of jet engines is whirring to life in Humphreys County, Tennessee, as the Tennessee Valley Authority brings a major power generation project online.
The elite aeroderivative gas turbines at Johnsonville Combustion Turbine Plant, west of Nashville, add more than 500 megawatts to TVA’s grid, which provides electricity to more than 10 million people across seven states.
Just like the aerospace engines they evolved from, these new turbines are designed to ramp up and down quickly, Justin McBath, senior project manager, said.
“They have a fast-start option,” McBath said. “You can go from a cold engine to full power in five minutes, generating 50 megawatts per unit – and these actually will generate up to around 57 to 59 megawatts under the right conditions.”
Hard-Wired
April 18, 2025
A Photo Essay Celebrating the Lineworkers Who Keep Us Connected.
From the flat, sweeping swamps in the west to the steep mountainsides in the east, lineworkers are building the nervous system of TVA.
16,000 miles of transmission lines connect us.
A New Nuclear Heyday
April 17, 2025
When Bob Deacy looks out over a grassy field at TVA’s Clinch River Nuclear Site, he sees America’s energy future – up to four state-of-the-art small modular reactors, each on a plot smaller than a football field.
He envisions an efficient workforce that relies on the latest digital equipment for all facets of operation.
And a facility that generates reliable power around the clock, contributing electricity to TVA’s portfolio of generating assets, from hydro, coal, gas and existing nuclear to solar and battery storage.
The reactors themselves will be a standard design, which will allow utilities around the world to benefit from these advancements in nuclear power.
Water Monitoring Project
April 17, 2025
Kathy Black and Marka Smith (both of Bicentennial Volunteers, Inc. | BVI) worked with Rachel Terrell, Manager, Public Outreach and Support, on partnering with TVA on a Water Monitoring Project. TVA currently goes into schools and teaches water monitoring to 4th and 5th graders.
TVA provides the test kits to the students. The kits allow the students to perform tests on water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity, then the students analyze and interpret the data.
Celebrating Economic Growth
April 4, 2025
A candy maker in Tipton County, Tennessee. A medical technology company in Huntsville, Alabama. A lumber manufacturer in Mississippi.
These are just a few of the vibrant companies growing in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s seven-state region.
Since its inception in 1933, TVA has held economic development as a leading component in its mission of service to the Valley region.
The Water Order
February 27, 2025
Precisely 395.3 feet in 2019.
And 396.11 feet in 1973.
The all-time record: 401.2 feet, set in 1897, before Tennessee Valley Authority built Pickwick Landing Dam at this location.