TVA Submits First Portion of Construction Permit Application to NRC for Clinch River BWRX-300 SMR

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has submitted the first portion of a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Clinch River Nuclear Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If built, the Clinch River unit—dubbed CRN-1—will serve as a flagship for U.S. commercial deployment of the BWRX-300.

The partial application submitted on April 28 and made public by the NRC on May 5 includes an environmental report and general administrative details. “The application is essentially the blueprint for the plant’s design and safety systems, and the NRC must approve the plans before construction could begin, in addition to approval of the TVA Board,” TVA said. TVA has indicated it will submit the full construction permit application by the end of June 2025.

NRC staff said they are reviewing the environmental report to determine if it is complete and acceptable for processing. If the partial application is determined to be sufficient, staff will docket it and begin a detailed technical review. TVA has said it intends to submit the second portion of the construction permit application—its Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR)—by the end of June 2025.

In November 2023, the NRC granted TVA an exemption allowing the PSAR to be filed separately from the environmental portion, diverging from the standard one-part application requirement under 10 CFR 2.101(a)(5). “If both portions are accepted for review, the NRC will then publish a notice of opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing on the application before the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board,” the regulatory agency said.

Seeking a 24-Month Review Schedule

The April 28 submittal incorporates by reference the Early Site Permit (ESP-006), which the NRC issued for the Clinch River site in 2019. That permit, notably, confirms the site’s suitability for two or more SMRs and provides key siting, environmental, and emergency preparedness findings, which TVA is now leveraging to streamline the licensing process. TVA’s current application, however, made under 10 CFR Part 50, is specifically for a single BWRX-300 unit—referred to as Clinch River Nuclear Unit 1 (CRN-1).

According to the filing, the 870-MWth/300-MWe BWRX-300 would be a water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety features. The design builds on licensed boiling water reactor platforms, particularly the NRC-certified ESBWR. GE Hitachi has said the design intends to reduce capital cost and construction time through design simplification and modular construction techniques.

TVA is seeking a 20-year construction permit authorizing the company to proceed with building safety-related structures, systems, and components. However, the agency emphasized that a separate operating license will be required before the plant can generate electricity. That application, which TVA says it may file under 10 CFR 50.34(b), would provide the final safety analysis and additional licensing details.

In its submittal, however, TVA stressed that the application does not signal a final decision to proceed with construction. “As communicated previously, the TVA Board has not yet authorized the deployment of a SMR at the CRN Site,” wrote Scott W. Hunnewell, TVA’s vice president for the New Nuclear Program in a letter to the NRC on April 28. “TVA’s submittal of the CPA is an important step to de-risk the licensing aspect of a potential, future SMR deployment. Any decisions about deployment will be subject to support, risk sharing, required internal and external approvals, and completion of necessary environmental and permitting reviews.”

For now, TVA has requested a 24-month NRC review schedule for the environmental portion of the application, citing a pre-application readiness assessment completed by the NRC in August 2024. That review provided feedback that TVA addressed in the submitted environmental report, which outlines potential impacts of the proposed SMR and associated mitigation measures.

If approved and constructed, CRN-1 would be the first new U.S. boiling water reactor built since the completion of TVA’s Watts Bar Unit 2 in 2016. TVA, however, has not yet disclosed capital cost estimates for CRN-1, citing confidentiality under 10 CFR 2.390.

In its filing, the federally owned corporation said it expects to have “sufficient capabilities or access to sufficient third-party financing, to complete or direct the construction of the plant.” TVA typically funds capital projects through a combination of cash from operations and proceeds from its power system financings, which primarily consist of bond sales. For CRN-1, the utility said it plans to finance construction through TVA-issued debt, available grants, and tax credits provided under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. It may also pursue third-party commercial financing arrangements, particularly if such partnerships offer financial flexibility or allow for the optimization of tax credit structures. “The roles of TVA in a commercial financing transaction may be influenced by requirements or restrictions, including restrictions that may affect the availability of tax credits,” the application notes, “particularly considering TVA’s status as a wholly owned federal government corporation.

Part of a Broader Generation Buildout

During a May 7 board meeting, TVA’s newly appointed president and CEO Don Moul noted the SMR application is part of a broader portfolio of new generation that TVA is advancing to meet surging power demand across its seven-state region. TVA’s current planning assumption includes building about 5.5 GW of new firm dispatchable generation, he noted.

Key projects underway include:

• Johnsonville Aeroderivative Combustion Turbine plant. A 500-MW peaking facility nearing completion, slated to support summer 2025 capacity.
• Cumberland Combined Cycle. A 1,450-MW gas plant scheduled for completion by late 2026.
• Kingston Energy Complex. A 1,500-MW combined cycle and dual-fuel peaking project with 100 MW of battery storage, expected online by late 2027.
• Solar Additions. TVA currently has more than 1,500 MW of solar in operation, with more projects coming online this year.

TVA also reported strong results from its energy efficiency efforts. Since October 2023, demand-side upgrades have saved consumers more than $500 million in projected lifetime costs, it said.

—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).