Tennessee officials cite council-led wins: federal grant, state investments and workforce plans for nuclear expansion

Nashville — David Salyers, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, told the Senate Energy, Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee that the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council, convened in fall 2023, produced reports and strategies that informed Governor Lee’s fiscal year 2026 budget and helped catalyze private and federal investment.

Salyers said the governor’s budget included roughly $92,600,000 in nuclear-related investments the council identified and highlighted the U.S. Department of Energy’s $400,000,000 grant to the Tennessee Valley Authority for the Clinch River small modular reactor project. "TVA submitted their construction permit application for the Clinch River small modular reactor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last May," Salyers said, and added that he expects an NRC determination on the permit application by December 2026.

Braden Stover, chief policy officer at the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, told the committee the state-administered Tennessee nuclear energy and supply chain fund has announced roughly $41,800,000 in projects and grants so far, including about $38,700,000 directed to business-development activities. Stover said those awards have been associated with commitments to 2,122 new jobs and nearly $10,000,000,000 in private capital investment. "For every dollar that has been spent, $212 has been committed in terms of construction and equipment and personnel," he said.

Salyers and Stover emphasized workforce and remediation as central to the state’s strategy. Salyers said Tennessee is working with higher-education institutions and community colleges to build a pipeline of skilled trades and technical staff, and that federal–state cleanup of former DOE properties around Oak Ridge makes land available for new nuclear activities.

The presentation also noted other advanced-nuclear efforts in Tennessee. Salyers said Kairos Power has begun construction in Oak Ridge of a Hermes demonstration reactor after receiving a construction permit from the NRC in December 2023. He also described the creation of a Tennessee nuclear network to sustain public-private coordination and named a Feb. 24 "Tennessee Nuclear Energy Day on the Hill" event with company exhibitors and legislative briefings.

Senator Janet Campbell (asked at the hearing): "I'd like to know if you guys have projected what this is gonna do to rate payer costs. When do you anticipate actually having energy online?" Campbell warned that first-of-a-kind nuclear costs often translate to higher rates for consumers and asked about long-term radioactive waste disposal.

Salyers replied that rate calculations are a TVA responsibility and that first-of-a-kind projects have higher initial costs that decline with mass production. On waste, he said long-term disposal has been debated nationally for decades and described federal partnerships and salvage/reuse efforts as part of a broader set of options. "I'll leave the rate calculations to TVA," Salyers said. "There are companies ... that can reclaim some of that radioactive material for reuse."

No formal committee action or vote on policy changes occurred during the presentation. The committee followed the presentations with questions and then invited the Tennessee Aquarium to present on conservation and education work.

What happens next: Salyers noted the NRC review timeline for the Clinch River permit and described ongoing state coordination with TVA, ECD and federal partners. The committee did not take votes on legislation at the meeting.