Interview with Bevan Brown, July 14, 2016

Interview Summary

Bevan Brown, a former TVA employee, begins the interview by describing how he was hired at the TVA and all of the TVA offices that he worked in over the years. Brown's first job at the TVA is examined. Brown also talks of his interactions with former TVA Chairman Aubrey 'Red' Wagner. The interviewee then recalls an incident in which severe flooding occurred in the Tennessee Valley during the late 1980s. The incident is detailed, from the perspective of Brown, a TVA supervisor within the Flood Control Branch at the time. Following this, Brown names all of the branches found under the Flood Control Branch. Brown then provides an overview of the following branches and their work: the engineering lab, the Water Quality Branch, the Air Quality Branch, and the Hydraulic Data Branch. Brown's experience in upper-level management positions at the TVA is described. Brown evaluates some of the biggest changes that occurred at the TVA during his career. The interviewee's accomplishments as a TVA employee are recalled. Brown's involvement with a dispute between the TVA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also mentioned. Brown's role in building a park beside the Guntersville Reservoir is explored. Issues that the TVA had with the construction of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant are revealed. To conclude the interview, Brown talks of the most unusual co-workers that he met at the TVA and chronicles his engineering work in Mozambique during the Mozambican Civil War in the early 1980s.

Interview Keyword

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Aubrey 'Red' Wagner Flood Control Branch U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Mozambican Civil War Flood control River system management Hydrology Aubrey “Red” Wagner Water quality

Interview LC Subject

Tennessee Valley Authority Tennessee Knoxville (Tenn.) Flood control Chattanooga (Tenn.) Dams Reservoirs Nuclear energy Guntersville (Ala.) Alabama Retirement Mozambique Civil engineering Engineering Engineers

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.