This blog was written by Sara Barczak, former Regional Advocacy Director with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Guest Blog | May 15, 2018 | Energy Policy, Nuclear

TVA is pursuing an undeveloped, expensive, risky technology known as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) at their previously abandoned Clinch River Site, near Kingston, TN. See fly-in video here showing the location. In 2016, TVA submitted an early site permit application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for possibly 800-megawatts of new nuclear power generation. The NRC has now issued the draft environmental impact statement (EIS).

They are holding public meetings to get your feedback.

These experimental reactors are Squandering More Resources as they are not needed and are extremely expensive, with no actual approved reactor designs. SMRs are significantly more water-intensive than affordable, clean energy choices such as wind, solar and energy efficiency. And just like existing nuclear power plants, they produce long-lived, highly radioactive nuclear waste for which no safe management and permanent storage exists.

Please join us on June 5th to express your concerns!

When: June 5; hearing #1 from 2-4PM, hearing #2 from 7-9PM; more info here
Where: Noah’s Event Venue, 1200 Ladd Landing Boulevard, Kingston, Tennessee

Can’t attend? You can submit written comments online to the NRC by July 10, 2018:

By email: ClinchRiverESPEIS@nrc.gov
By mail: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–07–A60, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001

Find more information on SMRs here and the NRC’s summary of the draft EIS here. If you have questions about this risky project, email SACE’s Sara Barczak at sara@cleanenergy.org.