As the Tennessee Valley Authority gains momentum with its plans for small next-gen reactors in Oak Ridge, its nuclear goals are expanding with the possibility of additional reactors in upper Middle Tennessee and North Alabama.
A final decision on a building permit for the Oak Ridge site could come months ahead of schedule − possibly by late September or early October, said Michele Sampson, deputy director of the Office of Advanced Reactors for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency that signs off on most new nuclear projects.
TVA, the nation's largest public power provider with a seven-state service region, was "very responsive to our requests for additional information," Sampson told Knox News, which helped speed up the process.
The
nuclear commission is set to hear from members of the public Aug. 13 about TVA’s application to build at the Clinch River site in Oak Ridge. This is the final step before the commission tells TVA whether it can move ahead with construction.
If the project is approved, a construction permit would give TVA the go-ahead to begin working toward new nuclear generation, a core goal for a utility that’s been increasingly leaning on its three existing nuclear plants. TVA would still need additional signoffs from the commission, including a license to operate the plant.
TVA's ideas for nuclear development in North Alabama and Hartsville are still taking shape. Interim CEO Mike Skaggs detailed them publicly for the first time during an energy conference in Knoxville earlier this month, and the talks “involve some of the most complex energy agreements in our history,” TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said via email.
Nothing is concrete at this point, Brooks said, but small modular reactors − the types of devices TVA hopes to build near the Clinch River – are on the table. One of TVA’s possible partners for the developments in Middle Tennessee and Alabama is GE Vernova, which already is working with the utility on Oak Ridge reactor project.
TVA, which has pressed up against a hard debt cap of $30 billion for decades, will consider all options to pay for new reactors, Brooks said. At the Knoxville energy conference, Skaggs said the utility may try to finance the projects through Japanese banks.
Japan − Tennessee's largest source of foreign direct investment − committed in March to putting up to $40 billiontoward new nuclear reactors in Tennessee and Alabama.
The Hartsville, Tennessee, and Alabama sites have been in the spotlight thanks to recent funding news and comments from TVA leaders, but they are no strangers to the utility's nuclear dreams. TVA once planned to house traditional reactors at both sites.
If approved, the sites would join TVA's existing nuclear fleet at Sequoyah near Chattanooga, Watts Bar in Rhea County and Browns Ferry near Huntsville, Alabama.
TVA once planned to place reactors at its unfinished Bellfonte plant in Alabama, the site of speculation about the new, next-gen reactors. Those plans faded, as TVA declared the site surplus more than a decade ago.
With East Tennessee marking what some industry and state leaders are calling a nuclear rebirth, TVA's ambitions suggest the revival could spread further across the South.
Mariah Franklin reports on technology and energy for Knox News. Email: mariah.franklin@knoxnews.com. Signal: mariahfranklin.01
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TVA's nuclear dreams extend beyond Oak Ridge to new sites in the South
