Document and Entity Information Document (USD $) In Millions, except Share data in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Entity Information [Line Items]
Entity Registrant Name	Tennessee Valley Authority
Entity Central Index Key	0001376986
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--09-30
Entity Filer Category	Non-accelerated Filer
Document Type	10-K
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2011
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2011
Document Fiscal Period Focus	FY
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding	0
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	No
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Public Float	$ 0

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End date of current fiscal year in the format --MM-DD.

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The end date of the period reflected on the cover page if a periodic report. For all other reports and registration statements containing historical data, it is the date up through which that historical data is presented. If there is no historical data in the report, use the filing date. The format of the date is CCYY-MM-DD.

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The type of document being provided (such as 10-K, 10-Q, N-1A, etc). The document type is limited to the same value as the supporting SEC submission type, minus any "/A" suffix. The acceptable values are as follows: S-1, S-3, S-4, S-11, F-1, F-3, F-4, F-9, F-10, 6-K, 8-K, 10, 10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, 40-F, N-1A, 485BPOS, 497, NCSR, N-CSR, N-CSRS, N-Q, 10-KT, 10-QT, 20-FT, and Other.

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A unique 10-digit SEC-issued value to identify entities that have filed disclosures with the SEC. It is commonly abbreviated as CIK.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

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State aggregate market value of voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to price at which the common equity was last sold, or average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter. The public float should be reported on the cover page of the registrants form 10K.

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The exact name of the entity filing the report as specified in its charter, which is required by forms filed with the SEC.

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