The Tennessee Valley Authority is on track to receive a landmark permit to build an advanced nuclear reactor along the Clinch River near Oak Ridge, a project regulators and utility officials describe as one of the first small modular reactors in the country. The permit would cover the initial system of a 300-megawatt GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor, a design TVA has been developing for years with international partners.
According to Knox News, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will approve the construction permit Tuesday. Bloomberg reports the NRC is expected to issue the permit for the 300-megawatt system at the Clinch River site in Tennessee, west of Knoxville.
A First-of-Its-Kind Design for the Site
The Clinch River project centers on the GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300, described by the Times Free Press as the reactor design TVA plans to build at the site. The BWRX-300 is a 300-megawatt small modular reactor.
The utility has not announced a construction start date for the first small modular reactor at the site, the Times Free Press reports. Per a TVA spokesperson cited by WATE 6 On Your Side, the utility hopes to deploy its first small modular reactor by the early 2030s.
A Milestone for the Advanced Reactor Industry
If issued, the permit would mark only the second construction permit granted in the U.S. for an advanced reactor, following one TerraPower received in March for its Natrium project in Wyoming, the Times Free Press notes. The Times Free Press adds that TVA would be the first utility company to receive an advanced-reactor construction permit, and that the BWRX-300 would be the first reactor of its kind to win approval — a distinction WATE 6 On Your Side also frames as the design receiving the first construction permit issued for this particular SMR model.
Years of Groundwork Before Expected Tuesday Decision
TVA's push toward Clinch River stretches back nearly a decade. WATE 6 On Your Side reports that TVA asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2016 to approve a site plan for possible future small modular reactors at the location, and the NRC's own project page notes the agency issued the site's Early Site Permit in 2019.
Part of a Broader Federal Push
A May 2025 executive order required the NRC to shorten its approval process for construction permits to 18 months.
For Oak Ridge, a city already steeped in nuclear history, the Clinch River project could put it at the center of that next chapter.
