• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds

Committee recommends approving early site permit for Clinch River Nuclear Site

Posted at 1:40 pm April 2, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

TVA Clinch River Site

The Clinch River Site in west Oak Ridge is pictured above. The road running from bottom to top on the right (east) side of the Clinch River connects to Bear Creek Road in southwest Oak Ridge. Highway 58 is off to the top left of the photo and the Heritage Center (the former K-25 site) is to the north. (Photo courtesy TVA)

 

A federal safety committee has recommended that an early site permit be approved for small modular reactors at the Clinch River Nuclear Site in west Oak Ridge.

The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards recommended the approval in a January 9 letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The letter was signed by Michael L. Corradini, committee chair. The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards reports on the parts of an early site permit application that concern safety. The committee’s recommendation does not appear to have been previously reported.

An early site permit evaluates the suitability of a site for the potential construction and operation of a nuclear power plant. The permit application for two or more small modular reactors at the 935-acre Clinch River site was submitted by the Tennessee Valley Authority in May 2016. TVA said the reactors could generate up to 800 megawatts of electricity.

In a presentation to the Advisory Committee on December 6, TVA outlined what it appears to consider advantages of the Clinch River Nuclear Site: access to 500 kilovolt and 161 kilovolt transmission lines; being a neighbor to the U.S. Department of Energy, an interested customer; strong community support; and access to basic infrastructure and an abundant and skilled workforce. Also, TVA owns and controls the site, the public utility said in a presentation by Dan Stout, director of nuclear technology and innovation.

In its January 9 letter to the NRC, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards said small modular reactors that have the design characteristics that were used by TVA in its early site permit application can be built and operated without undue risk to public health and safety.

TVA did not have a specific plant design for the early site permit application. Instead, TVA has identified parameters for a surrogate nuclear plant, and Oak Ridge Today has reported that the NRC would use them to evaluate the site’s suitability for building and operating a new nuclear plant. The Advisory Committee said TVA received input from four potential vendors: NuScale, Holtec, BWX Technologies, and Westinghouse. That input gave “bounding values” for the construction and operation of light-water reactor-derivative designs for the potential small modular reactors, the committee said.

Small modular reactors, or SMRs, would be smaller than traditional nuclear power plants, and they would produce less power. All of TVA’s traditional nuclear power plants generate at least 1,100 megawatts, compared to the 80-200 megawatts of a proposed SMR. Still, SMRs could provide enough electricity to power several cities the size of Oak Ridge. One hundred megawatts is enough to power about 60,000 homes. (Oak Ridge has about 12,000 homes.)

Unlike a traditional nuclear power plant, SMRs could be produced in a factory and transferred to a site by trucks or railroads. They wouldn’t have the hyperbolic cooling towers associated with traditional nuclear power plants. But they would still use low-enriched uranium.

If the NRC were to approve the early site permit for TVA, it would agree that the Clinch River Nuclear Site was safe and environmentally suitable for the proposed construction and operation of one or more nuclear power plants. But before a plant could be built, either under a combined license or construction permit, the NRC would have to review and approve a specific reactor technology for the site, the Advisory Committee said.

The Clinch River Nuclear Site is just north of the Clinch River and Interstate 40 in west Oak Ridge, south of Heritage Center (the former K-25 site), and between Highway 95 and Highway 58 in a bend of the Clinch River.

The Advisory Committee said TVA’s early site permit application addressed issues of site suitability and environmental protection, as well as plans for coping with emergencies, independent of the review of a specific nuclear power plant design. The early site permit application contains more than 8,000 pages, and it is supported by more than 80,000 pages of referenced documents. The NRC started its review in fiscal year 2017.

“The TVA early site permit application benefits from the proposed use of advanced light-water reactor-derivative SMR designs that are expected to exhibit both lower accident frequencies and consequences than the current fleet of large light-water reactors; the large body of knowledge associated with light-water reactor technology, particularly regarding source terms; and extensive light-water reactor operating and licensing experience,” the Advisory Committee said in its January 9 letter. “The early site permit for the Clinch River Nuclear Site should be issued.”

The NRC issued a draft environmental impact statement for the Clinch River Nuclear Site in April 2018. A final environmental impact statement is scheduled to be published on June 21, 2019. A final safety evaluation report is scheduled to be published August 17. (Learn more about the process here.)

See the January 9 letter from the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to the NRC here.

See the December 6 presentation by TVA to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards here.

See previous stories here and here.

Clinch-River-Site-Bear-Creek-Road-Entrance-March-27-2016

The small nuclear reactors that could be built along the Clinch River could provide enough electricity to power several cities the size of Oak Ridge. The Bear Creek Road entrance to the Clinch River Site, where the reactors could be built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, is pictured above on Sunday, March 27, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.


Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

Copyright 2019 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Government, Slider Tagged With: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Clinch River Nuclear Site, Clinch River Site, Dan Stout, early site permit, Michael L. Corradini, NRC, nuclear power plant, small modular reactors, SMR, SMRs, Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More Government News

Election is Thursday

The Anderson County general election and state and federal primary elections are Thursday. Competitive races include the Democratic and Republican primaries for U.S. Senate, Republican primary for Tennessee House of … [Read More...]

Kairos Power begins construction on demonstration reactor​

Kairos Power has started construction on a test nuclear reactor in west Oak Ridge. The Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor is the first of its type to be approved for construction by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory … [Read More...]

County law director dies at 65

Anderson County Law Director Nicholas “Jay” Yeager, of Clinton, died Friday. He was 65. Yeager was assistant attorney in Anderson County from 2001 to 2006, and he has been law director since then. "Mr. Yeager was … [Read More...]

Outdoor Pool to close for season Aug. 12

Indoor Pool to re-open Monday The Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool will closed for the season on Monday, August 12, and the Indoor Pool will re-open Monday, July 29, after being closed for a few months for renovations. The … [Read More...]

Tennis court dances recreate wartime event

Monthly dances by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park recreate the open-air tennis court dances that entertained 75,000 workers and their families in the Secret City during World War II. "Put on your … [Read More...]

More Government

Recent Posts

  • Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival Announces 2025 Storytellers
  • Laser-Engraved Bricks Will Line Walkway of New Chamber Headquarters
  • Democratic Women’s Club to Discuss Climate Change, Energy and Policy
  • Estate Jewelry Show at Karen’s Jewelers Features Celebrity Jewelry
  • Keri Cagle named new ORAU senior vice president and ORISE director
  • ORAU Annual Giving Campaign exceeds $100,000 goal+ORAU Annual Giving Campaign exceeds $100,000 goal More than $1 million raised in past 10 years benefits United Way and Community Shares Oak Ridge, Tenn. —ORAU exceeded its goal of raising $100,000 in donations as part of its internal annual giving campaign that benefits the United Way and Community Shares nonprofit organizations. ORAU has raised more than $1 million over the past 10 years through this campaign. A total of $126,839 was pledged during the 2024 ORAU Annual Giving Campaign. Employees donate via payroll deduction and could earmark their donation for United Way, Community Shares or both. “ORAU has remained a strong pillar in the community for more than 75 years, and we encourage our employees to consider participating in our annual giving campaign each year to help our less fortunate neighbors in need,” said ORAU President and CEO Andy Page. “Each one of our employees has the power to positively impact the lives of those who need help in the communities where we do business across the country and demonstrate the ORAU way – taking care of each other.” ORAU, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, provides science, health and workforce solutions that address national priorities and serve the public interest. Through our specialized teams of experts and access to a consortium of more than 150 major Ph.D.-granting institutions, ORAU works with federal, state, local and commercial customers to provide innovative scientific and technical solutions and help advance their missions. ORAU manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Learn more about ORAU at www.orau.org. Learn more about ORAU at www.orau.org. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OakRidgeAssociatedUniversities Follow us on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/orau Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orau ###
  • Children’s Museum Gala Celebrates the Rainforest
  • Jim Sears joins ORAU as senior vice president
  • Oak Ridge Housing Authority Receives Funding Assistance of up to $51.8 Million For Renovating Public Housing and Building New Workforce Housing
  • Two fires reported early Friday

Search Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2025 Oak Ridge Today