The Tennessee Valley may need a new name as it becomes a national center of nuclear energy, just like the tech industry transformed the Santa Clara Valley in California into “Silicon Valley” in the 1970s, the region’s top nuclear official said.
“We’re gonna see a nuclear renaissance in the Tennessee Valley, and we’re gonna to have to figure out what we’re gonna rename it,” Matt Rasmussen, chief nuclear officer at the Tennessee Valley Authority, said in a speech at the Rotary Club of Chattanooga on Thursday. “We are going to be the ecosystem for nuclear energy. The state has made that clear.”
Tennessee has been named the top state in the nation for nuclear development after the city of Oak Ridge attracted more than $10 billion in planned investments by companies developing new reactors or nuclear fuels. Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers have set aside $95 million to support nuclear companies investing in the state.
The Tennessee Valley is both a geographical region along the Tennessee River and a massive power grid operated and owned by TVA, the nation’s largest government-owned utility company. TVA operates seven nuclear reactors at three plants in Alabama and Tennessee, the third largest collection of nuclear plants in the U.S.
Tennessee Valley will be like Silicon Valley for nuclear, top official says
(READ MORE: Machine guns, sweltering heat: What it’s like to tour a TVA nuclear plant)