The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's technical staff has recommended the agency issue a construction permit to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a small modular reactor planned at the Clinch River site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The recommendation appears in a safety evaluation report tied to TVA's construction permit application for a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 boiling water reactor, a 300-megawatt unit that would mark the first U.S. deployment of that design.
NRC staff found TVA's application met the applicable standards of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and commission regulations, and concluded the utility had shown reasonable assurance that the reactor's design meets safety margins and that TVA has the financial and technical qualifications to build the plant. The agency's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards separately reviewed the application and called the design's natural-circulation approach and passive safety systems sufficiently complete for this stage of review.
The safety evaluation report was completed well ahead of its original schedule. NRC staff had initially targeted November for publication but finished in June, citing frequent engagement with TVA. Staff now estimate roughly 16,500 hours of review time remain to complete the permitting process, down from an earlier estimate of 25,000 hours.
If approved, the Clinch River reactor would serve as the flagship U.S. deployment of the BWRX-300 design and support TVA's broader push to add nuclear generating capacity across its service territory, which spans Tennessee and parts of neighboring states.
Source: Nuclear Newswire (American Nuclear Society) - https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-01/article-8174/clinch-river-construction-permit-recommendation-follows-safety-evaluation/