Policy and licensing / Tennessee

Tennessee: SMR policy and licensing

Selected federal measures and selected state measures whose official text was opened. This is not a complete list of laws, rules or programmes for any jurisdiction. A state without a page here is not a finding that it has no policy, and these pages do not rate or prefer any state. Nothing here implies that a project is eligible for, or approved under, any measure.

Federal measures apply in Tennessee as everywhere in the United States and are listed once on the federal page. They are not counted here.

Laws, rules and executive directives

• Tennessee Public Chapter 530: nuclear supply-chain carry-forward · In effect
  2025 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 530 (House Bill 1409) · Tennessee General Assembly · affects: Project funding
  Tennessee Public Chapter 530 passed on 16 April 2025. Item 90, in Section 36, lets an unexpended nuclear energy supply-chain balance of up to $60,000,000 be carried forward, and that section takes effect upon becoming law. The governor's approval line shows 2025, and the day and month are not legible, so no calendar effective day is stored. Section 64's 1 July 2025 date is the general act date. The act records no award.
  Not approved or pending: The approval day and month are not legible, so only the year 2025 is stored for the signature and no calendar effective day is stored. Section 36 takes effect upon becoming a law, so Section 64's 1 July 2025 general date is not this item's effective date. The carry-forward is subject to funding available at 30 June 2025 and to commissioner approval, and those conditions were not opened as a balance or an approval. The $60,000,000 figure is a cap on carrying forward an unexpended balance. It is not recorded as a new award or as a named recipient. Item 76 states no dollar amount. No project is linked. Two other Tennessee PDFs returned HTTP 403 and are not this record.

Bills, proposed rules and consultations

• None recorded in this pilot.

Funding and support programmes

• None recorded in this pilot.

NRC permissions and applications for tracked projects located in Tennessee

Listed by project location only. The Tennessee measures above do not license reactors; the NRC does.

Construction permission

• Clinch River Unit 1 construction permit — TVA Clinch River BWRX-300
  Construction permission · Issued / approved · NRC · decided 2026-09-28 · permit CPAR-2 · docket 50-615 · 91 FR 63311
  The Federal Register published this notice on 5 October 2026 at 91 FR 63311. It states that construction permit CPAR-2 was issued to TVA on 28 September 2026 for Clinch River Nuclear Unit 1, is immediately effective, and authorizes construction of a power reactor facility in Roane County, Tennessee. The notice says the conditions in early site permit ESP-006 had been met except those listed in the construction permit. TVA announced the permit on 29 September 2026. The permit is not an operating licence. No construction start has been announced; a permit is not a physical construction start.
  Sources: Federal Register 91 FR 63311 (5 Oct 2026): Clinch River Nuclear Unit 1 construction permit and record of decision; TVA construction permit announcement
• Kairos Hermes 2 construction permit — Kairos Hermes 2
  Construction permission · Issued / approved · NRC · decided 2024-11-21 · permit CPTR-7, CPTR-8 · docket 50-611, 50-612 · 89 FR 94767
  The NRC issued construction permits CPTR-7 and CPTR-8 for the two-unit Hermes 2 test reactor facility on 21 November 2024. Operation needs separate operating licences.
  Sources: Federal Register 89 FR 94767 (29 Nov 2024): Hermes 2 test reactor facility construction permits; NRC Kairos Hermes construction permit materials
• Kairos Hermes 1 construction permit — Kairos Hermes 1
  Construction permission · Issued / approved · NRC · decided 2023-12-14 · permit CPTR-6 · docket 50-7513 · 88 FR 88137 · 91 FR 28629
  The NRC issued construction permit CPTR-6 for the Hermes non-power test reactor on 14 December 2023. A 13 May 2026 order extended the latest construction completion date from 31 December 2026 to 30 April 2029. Operation needs a separate operating licence.
  Sources: Federal Register 88 FR 88137 (20 Dec 2023): Hermes test reactor construction permit; Federal Register 91 FR 28629 (18 May 2026): Hermes test reactor construction completion date extension; NRC Kairos Hermes construction permit materials