TVA to submit SMR construction permit application

Thursday, 17 April 2025

"The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) intends to submit a CPA to license construction of a GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at TVA's Clinch River Nuclear Site (CRN Site)," the authority said in a Notification of Intent to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). According to the notification, it plans to submit the first part of the application, including the Clinch River Nuclear Site Environmental Report, this month and the remainder "by June 2025".

The Construction Permit Application - or CPA - is essentially the blueprint for the plant's design and safety systems. NRC approval must be granted before construction can begin.

"As communicated previously, the TVA Board has not yet authorised the deployment of a SMR at the CRN Site. TVA's submittal of the CPA is an important step to de-risk the licensing aspect of a potential, future SMR deployment. Any decisions about deployment will be subject to support, risk-sharing, required internal and external approvals, and completion of necessary environmental and permitting reviews," TVA said in the letter, which is dated 17 April.

The NRC awarded TVA an early site permit for the construction of SMRs at Clinch River in 2019, certifying that the site was suitable for the construction of a nuclear power plant from the point of view of site safety, environmental impact and emergency planning, but without specifying the choice of technology. A separate licence would be required to construct and operate a plant. TVA entered an agreement with GE Hitachi in 2022 to support its planning and preliminary licensing for the potential deployment of a BWRX-300 at the site, near Oak Ridge.

_{US Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited the Clinch River Nuclear Site in March (Video: TVA)}

This will be the first CPA for a BWRX-300. TerraPower submitted a CPA for its first-of-a-kind Natrium plant, at Kemmerer, Wyoming, to the NRC in March 2024, which the regulator docketed for review the following May. More recently, Long Mott Energy submitted a CPA for an Xe-100 power reactor to be located in Calhoun County, Texas, on 31 March, for which the regulator is targeting a docketing decision by the end of May.

A TVA-led coalition including BWRX-300 developer GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy earlier this year applied for USD800 million in funding from the US Department of Energy's Generation III+ SMR programme to support the deployment of SMRs at Clinch River. At the time, CEO Jeff Lyash said the funding would accelerate construction of an SMR at Clinch River by two years, with commercial operation planned for 2033. 

Earlier this year, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee pledged support for nuclear, with a proposal for some USD50 million for the SMR project in his 2025 State of the State address.