TVA nominees promise to support advanced reactor development

Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, Randall Jones, and Arthur Graham were nominated by President Donald Trump to the TVA board in July. Their Senate approval would bring the currently stalled board back to a voting quorum—which it has lacked since this past spring, when Trump fired three of the board members.

The four nominees said in an October 22 hearing that they are supportive of bringing a new small modular reactor to the region. In May, the TVA filed its construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy SMR at its Clinch River nuclear site—making it the first public utility to submit a SMR application to the NRC, Nuclear Newswire reported.

Nuclear support: All four nominees said that they would back nuclear development for the TVA if confirmed to the board. They also said they would not support privatizing the TVA, when asked by Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.). During his first term in office, Trump had proposed privatization or the selling of TVA assets.

“The biggest opportunity is going to be nuclear, and mostly SMRs,” said Graham, a member of the Florida Public Service Commission.

“I think that is one of the things I’m most excited about being on TVA, because I think we have the opportunity to do that and try to do it as quick as we can, because once we do that, we have the template for everything else,” he said.

Similarly, Hagood, a partner at Hagood Moody Hodge PLC, said, “Our best hope is nuclear. I’m bullish [about] the new SMR technology—that’s been around for a while—[it] gives me opportunity for hope, it’s clean, and I’m hopeful about that.”

Back to a quorum soon? Trump fired three members of the board earlier this year—Michelle Moore in March, board chair Joe Ritch in April, and Beth Geer in June—leaving behind just three board members, all of whom were nominated by former President Joe Biden. Without the necessary five members to make a quorum, the TVA has not been able to make changes or approve new programs.

The Senate EPW Committee has not announced when the vote on the four nominees will take place.