Cumberland Coal Power Plant is a 2.6-GW pulverized coal-powered power station located in Cumberland City, Tennessee, USA, on the south bank of Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River. Owned and operated by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), it produces the most electricity of all plants in the TVA system.

Cumberland Coal Power Plant has one of the tallest chimneys in the world (305 m), built in 1970. Its identical Units 1 and 2, rated at 1.3 GW each, were launched into service in March and November, 1973. In 2004, the two units accounted for almost 12% of TVA's total electricity generation. Bituminous coal is delivered by barges along the Cumberland River waterway.

The Cumberland Coal Power Plant consumes about 20,000 tons of coal a day. All of the waste heat is dumped into Cumberland River water. To reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, both units at Cumberland use wet limestone scrubbers. To reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx), the units use low-NOx burners as well as selective catalytic reduction systems, which were completed in 2004.

Toxic release inventory from Cumberland power plant for 2005. All quantities are in pounds.
Pollutant Air Water Land Offsite disposal Total
Antimony compounds 39 178 8,947 0 9,164
Arsenic compounds 182 119 46,096 0 46,397
Barium compounds 142 0 279,200 25 279,367
Beryllium compounds 10 0 9,952 1 9,963
Cadmium compounds




Chromium compounds 368 142 87,420 7 87,937
Cobalt compounds 63 89 19,887 1 20,040
Copper compounds 286 6,798 64,120 3 71,207
Lead compounds 253 0 59,122 3 59,378
Manganese compounds 558 33,864 177,130 18 211,570
Mercury compounds 240 0 346 0 586
Nickel compounds 516 2,504 98,180 6 101,206
Selenium compounds 2,501 2,075 6,573 0 11,149
Silver compounds




Thallium compounds 36 0 30,200 2 30,239
Vanadium compounds 290 0 191,560 13 191,864
Zinc compounds 2,006 2,447 248,070 12 252,534
Hydrochloric acid (aerosol) 340,006 0 0 0 340,006
Hydrogen fluoride 72,006 0 0 0 72,006
Sulfuric acid (aerosol) 8,793,606 0 0 0 8,793,606
Benzo(g,h,i)perylene 0.21 0 0.65 0 0.87
Dioxin 0.008 0 0 0 0.008
Polycyclic aromatic compounds 49.8 0 59.2 0.0 109.0
Naphthalene 100 0 0 0 100
Ammonia 3,640 316 0 0 3,956
Nitrate compounds 0 128,879 0 0 132,407