First US construction permit for a commercial small modular reactor

TVA / GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 — Clinch River, Tennessee — The NRC issued the Tennessee Valley Authority a construction permit for a 300 MW BWRX-300 at its Clinch River site in Oak Ridge at the end of September 2026 — the first US construction authorisation for a commercial small modular reactor, and the first held by a utility rather than a reactor developer. The review took 14 months from TVA's April 2025 application, about four months ahead of the NRC's own schedule. A construction permit is not an operating licence: TVA must build the plant and obtain a separate licence before loading fuel. TVA has said the site could host up to four units; the design's first unit anywhere is Ontario Power Generation's Darlington project, targeted for 2030.