(Bloomberg) —
The Tennessee Valley Authority is taking steps to build a small modular nuclear reactor — the first US utility to seek federal approval for such a project amid a surge in power demand from data centers.
The nation’s largest public power company filed an application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build BWRX-300, a reactor developed by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, according to a statement Tuesday. The TVA is planning to build at a site in Clinch River, near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Interest in nuclear energy continues to increase as data center construction is expected to drive up power demand. While there are currently no operating SMRs in the US, the technology is somewhat favored over traditional, large-scale reactors as SMRs are projected to be more efficient to build and deploy. TVA’s announcement follows an earlier decision from Canada’s provincial government to build the same GE Hitachi SMR in Ontario.
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