Federal regulators have concluded that there are no safety problems with the riverfront site near Oak Ridge where the Tennessee Valley Authority is considering building a small modular reactor (SMR).
In a 600-page report released Tuesday, the staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the abandoned site of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor five miles southwest of Oak Ridge does not present significant seismic, geological or water problems for building one of the new smaller nuclear plants being proposed for future power generation.
The NRC has yet to approve any design for the new type of smaller reactors and any specific proposal for the Oak Ridge site would still require extensive licensing review. But regulators are recommending that the 935-acre site on the Clinch River in Roane County be granted an early site permit after the final environmental impact statement was issued about the property in April.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is proposing the possibility of building at least a couple of new SMRs in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy to help test the new technology. TVA filed a preliminary site permit with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2016 to pursue one of the first small modular reactor designs, but the utility has yet to decide whether it will move ahead with any of the new plant designs.
“SMRs are a next-generation nuclear technology with potential for improved safety and increased flexibility in terms of deployment timing and locations,” TVA spokeswoman Malinda Hunter said Tuesday.