US Poised To Greenlight New Nuclear Reactor As Power Demand Surges
The Trump administration is dumping hundreds of millions of federal dollars behind two small nuclear reactor projects as Washington races to add reliable power to the grid.
Paris Apodaca · Sep 29, 2026 · 4 min read
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued the Tennessee Valley Authority a construction permit for a small modular reactor in Tennessee.
The greenlighted build marks only the second commercial advanced reactor project to receive a U.S. construction permit and the first using the BWRX-300 design, WATE reported Monday. The NRC said the approval establishes a “clear, repeatable licensing pathway” for future SMR applicants, potentially making subsequent projects using the technology easier to license, NucNet reported.
The TVA sent the application for the permit in May 2025.
The TVA would also become the first U.S. utility permitted to begin construction of a BWRX-300, according to NucNet. The BWRX-300 is a smaller boiling-water reactor design that the TVA has helped develop alongside GE Vernova Hitachi and international partners. The utility has said the project could provide a template for deploying additional reactors around the country.
The milestone follows the NRC’s March approval of a construction permit for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Wyoming.
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced in December 2025 that it had selected the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Holtec Government Services to receive up to $400 million each to advance small modular reactor (SMR) projects in Tennessee and Michigan, according to a May DOE press release. The $800 million in cost-shared funding is intended to help bring Generation III+ SMRs online in the early 2030s and establish supply chains for additional reactors.
“President [Donald] Trump has made clear that America is going to build more energy, not less, and nuclear is central to that mission,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said when DOE announced the awards. “Advanced light-water SMRs will give our nation the reliable, round-the-clock power we need to fuel the President’s manufacturing boom, support data centers and AI growth, and reinforce a stronger, more secure electric grid.”
TVA plans to deploy GE Vernova-Hitachi’s BWRX-300 reactor at its Clinch River Nuclear Site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Unlike many proposed advanced reactors, the TVA project has already entered the federal licensing process. The TVA submitted its construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in April 2025, and regulators are currently reviewing the application, according to the NRC.