NRC issues first US construction permit for a BWRX-300 SMR, at Clinch River
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readThe Tennessee Valley Authority can now build a small modular reactor at Clinch River in Tennessee: the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a construction permit for the planned GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 there, World Nuclear News reports. The NRC said the decision "paves the way for the nation's first commercial small modular reactor".
The review took 14 months, four months less than the NRC had scheduled. TVA submitted its application in May 2025, the NRC formally began the review in July 2025, staff completed the safety evaluation in June 2026 finding that the application met all regulatory requirements, and a public hearing was held in Oak Ridge in August. NRC Chairman Ho Nieh presented the decision as proof that the agency can make "rigorous and credible safety decisions" that let major projects proceed.
TVA, the government-owned utility, is now the first US utility permitted to build a BWRX-300, but it has not announced a construction date. It says it is still negotiating with industry partners over cost sharing and financial accountability, and interim chief executive Mike Skaggs said the priority is ensuring the people of the Tennessee Valley "do not shoulder the costs of first-of-a-kind technology". TVA argues the permit sets a repeatable licensing path for later BWRX-300 applicants, and GE Vernova Hitachi says a standard design licensed once is what makes a fleet model possible.
Why it matters
The permit removes the regulatory question for the first US SMR of this design; what remains is who pays for the first unit. TVA's own wording puts the cost-sharing negotiation ahead of any construction date, which is the more telling signal for when the reactor might actually be built.