NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee looks to go nuclear, working toward plans to build the country’s first small, modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in the Volunteer State.
Gov. Bill Lee has proposed spending nearly $100 million on nuclear energy investments in his state budget; $50 million would go toward building a potential SMR along the Clinch River in Oak Ridge.
Republican lawmakers are on board.
“I promise you this, if we can go to modular nuclear power in this state, we’ll have enough affordable power at a very low, low cost for Tennesseans for generations to come. It is the future,” House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) said.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has already applied for a $800 million federal grant to help fund the project. Scott Fiedler, a TVA spokesperson, told News 2 nuclear energy will be the backbone of the power grid.
“These are plants that operate 24/7, 365 with high reliability,” Fiedler said. “We’re seeing a very good bipartisan support for nuclear power, we’re seeing that public perception of nuclear power change, and also we’re seeing computer power that could be used to design and implement these new reactors.”
According to the TVA, SMRs can be built faster and their smaller loads make planning for an outage easier.
While they may be expensive to build, they are relatively cheap to run, which is good news for consumers.
According to Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), the TVA isn’t able to produce enough power on its own, so it’s had to buy energy from other states and pass that additional cost to the customers.
“We can’t generate at the TVA the way we used to because we’ve completely done away with fossil fuels and coal,” Rep. Faison said. “We have to purchase energy. My mom is 81 years old, and her energy bill for a small, two-bedroom house was $540 for the month of January. That’s terrible.”
Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) added the Clinch River site would just be the first of multiple sites for SMRs across Tennessee.
“At the end of the day, we need to be in control of our own power and electricity and not be like these other states where you have brownouts and have to turn them off at certain points in time because there is too much overload,” Speaker Sexton said. “We need to be in charge of that, and I think the governor working with the TVA has put us on a good path.”
The TVA plans to submit its license and construction permit application for the SMR this year.
Gov. Lee’s proposed budget also includes $10 million to draw advanced nuclear technology companies to the state.
