The US nuclear regulator, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), has approved the first small modular reactors (SMR) site license in the United States. The NRC has authorised the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation to issue a 10- to 20-year early site permit (ESP) to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for the potential construction of SMRs at its Clinch River site in Tennessee.
In May 2016, TVA submitted an ESP application for its Clinch River site to the NRC, as the company was considering developing two or more SMR modules with a combined capacity of up to 800 MWe on the site of the former Clinch River breeder reactor project. The NRC accepted the application for regulatory review in December 2016 and released a final environmental impact statement for the permit in April 2019 and a final safety evaluation report in June 2019.
TVA will now decide whether to actually build such reactors and the type of technology to use. Small modular reactors have a lower capacity than usual reactors (around 300 MW or less), allowing economies of series production and shorter construction times.
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