Oak Ridge was created in World War II, in part, because of the power of the Tennessee Valley Authority to supply the bomb-making facilities needed to produce the world’s first atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project.
Now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that arose from the bomb-making role of the former “secret city” is relying upon TVA to help the Department of Energy meet ambitious carbon reduction goals for the federal agency.
“Oak Ridge exists because of TVA power,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said Thursday during a forum with TVA at the Tennessee Valley Corridor summit Thursday “The Oak Ridge National Laboratory represents about 31% of the greenhouse emissions of the Department of Energy. The solution to that problem lies directly with our partnership with TVA.”
As President Biden tries to transition America’s power grid to a carbon-free power source in the next decade and a half, Zacharia said developing a new and smaller type of nuclear power plant near Oak Ridge on the Clinch River will likely be key for ORNL to gain access to carbon-free electric power from TVA.
“A small modular reactor at the Clinch River site is a great opportunity to reduce those greenhouse gases, bring new technology and revive the next generation of the nuclear fleet,” Zacharia said.