NRC hosting public meetings today on TVA project
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week shared a portion of the construction permit application from the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a small modular reactor at the Clinch River nuclear site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
In anticipation of TVA’s filing, NRC staff scheduled two public meetings in Oak Ridge for today, to discuss the agency’s process for licensing nuclear power plants.
Background: TVA hopes to deploy a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMR, which the company touts as able to generate 300 MW of power with built-in natural circulation and passive cooling technology. TVA obtained an early site permit from the NRC for the Clinch River project in 2019.
NRC staff are reviewing the environmental report TVA submitted to determine if it is complete for processing. If the partial application is sufficient, the agency will docket it for both processing and to start the detailed technical review. TVA has informed the NRC it intends to file the second portion of the application—a preliminary safety analysis—for commission review in the next few weeks. If both portions are accepted for review, the NRC will publish a notice of opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Project support: TVA has designated a total of $350 million so far toward the Clinch River SMR project, including an initial $200 million approved by its board in February 2022 and another $150 million to support continued design and development work in April 2024.
TVA is one of three lead applicants for a U.S. Department of Energy’s $800 million grant program. The TVA team first applied in January. However, because DOE officials reissued the funding opportunity after eliminating the community benefit requirements “that Trump administration officials had labeled as DEI,” according USA Today, all applicants, including TVA, had to reapply.
Get involved: The first meeting will be held from 1:00 p.m. (ET) to 4:00 p.m. (ET) and the second is from 6:00 p.m. (ET) to 9 p.m. (ET) today at the Pollard Technology Center, at 210 Badger Ave., Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Staff will hold open houses for 30 minutes at the start of each meeting and then discuss the NRC’s safety and environmental review processes for a construction permit and take questions from the public.
