A federally-owned utility this week said that its New Nuclear Program that will prepare an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an advanced reactor at a Tennessee test site.
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) New Nuclear Program, approved by the utility’s board Thursday, will “develop a Nuclear Regulatory Commission construction permit application and potentially deploy” a small modular reactor at TVA’s Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tenn., the company announced Thursday in a press release. The Clinch River site is the only location in the country that has an NRC early site permit for such advanced reactor projects, TVA said.
NRC approved the Clinch River site to be a testing location for advanced reactors in 2019.
The Knoxville, Tenn., company’s foray into advanced nuclear is part of the New Nuclear Program’s “programmatic approach to exploring advanced nuclear technology as a component of its decarbonization goals,” the press release said.
The project is also tasked with providing a roadmap for TVA’s future advanced nuclear efforts and with coordinating the company’s collaborative efforts with government agencies, research organizations and other utilities, the release said.
TVA is a self-funded company and is the largest public utility in the country.
