TVA identifying sites for SMRs in USA

• 10 months ago (2023-06-26)
• David Flin

North America 998 Nuclear 640

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is identifying sites through its seven state footprints in the USA suitable for SMR development. It said that it is first evaluating sites already in its inventory.

TVA owns around 2000 acres in Jackson County in northeast Alabama at the site of the former Widows Creek Fossil Plant near Bridgeport and about 1600 acres at the unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Scottsboro, Alabama.

Tim Rauch, Chief Nuclear Officer at TVA, has outlined plans for the company’s development of SMRs within its area of operations. This includes presenting three sites to the TVA board for consideration for joining TVA’s first approved SMR site at Clinch River near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

TVA said about 42 per cent of its energy generation is nuclear. Rausch described TVA as being “all-in” on SMRs. Jeff Lyash, CEO of TVA, said: that TVA was looking to build about 20 SMRs.