OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — After three years of waiting, the Tennessee Valley Authority tweeted it is the first utility in the US to receive approval for an early site permit for the potential construction of small modular reactors near Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The small modular reactor (SMR) would be in an area on the Clinch River near the southwest edge of Oak Ridge. This is the same site where TVA proposed to build the breeder reactor in the 1980s that was scrapped due to budget cuts and safety concerns.
It's a design that's never been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the United States.
It said these reactors could be an innovative, carbon-free energy alternative that could meet future energy demands.