The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved a construction permit for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build a small modular reactor (SMR) at its Clinch River site in Roane County, Tennessee. TVA plans to construct a 300 MWe GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 boiling-water reactor, designed to help meet soaring regional electricity demands.
The regulatory approval followed an accelerated 14-month review by the NRC, concluding four months ahead of schedule. While the permit allows for site-specific engineering and development, it does not authorise operations. TVA must complete construction and successfully secure a separate NRC operating licence before it can load fuel or supply electricity to the grid. Commercial operations are targeted for 2033.
This is the NRC’s second major reactor approval this year. The other approval, in March, was for TerraPower’s Natrium advanced reactor construction permit. Together with the Clinch River project, these accelerated approvals signal a major push by federal regulators to fast-track advanced nuclear energy deployments in line with President Trump’s May 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14300: Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The EO mandated:
- Enforcing strict licensing deadlines: NRC must adhere to hard deadlines for reactor applications, establishing an 18-month limit to review new construction and operating licenses, and a 1-year limit for existing facility operational renewals.
- Wholesale regulatory revisions: NRC was ordered to undergo a top-to-bottom rewrite of its massive rulebook. The agency was given a hard 18-month deadline (concluding in November 2026) to publish final rule overhauls.
- Updating radiation safety models: It instructed NRC to move away from the traditional, highly conservative “linear no-threshold” safety model and replace it with modern, science-based radiation exposure limits to lower compliance costs.
- Reorganising NRC staffing: The order mandated shrinking the overall footprint of the agency. This includes reducing the personnel of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) while establishing a dedicated internal team of at least 20 officials focused purely on writing streamlined regulations.
- Streamlining reactors: It mandated creating highly expedited, high-volume licensing pathways specifically tailored for advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors, rather than forcing them through standard large-scale reactor protocols.
“Four months ahead of schedule is what the new NRC looks like,” NRC Chairman Ho K Nieh said. “Today’s Clinch River decision demonstrates that the new NRC can make rigorous and credible safety decisions that enable major American nuclear projects to move forward.”
The approval followed a comprehensive safety evaluation completed by the NRC staff in June, which found that TVA’s construction permit application met all regulatory requirements. NRC also held a public hearing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in August as part of its modernised mandatory hearing process.
