Oak Ridge's Clinch River Site receives $400M DOE grant

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) was selected for a $400 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to advance the development of a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge. Tennessee’s Clinch River Site is one of the only federally approved, undeveloped nuclear sites in the country. In 2025, Governor Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly included up to $50 million in the state budget to assist in accelerating construction of small modular reactors and support TVA’s application for the DOE grant at the Clinch River Site. In 2023, Governor Lee created the Nuclear Energy Fund and invested a total of $70 million to attract advanced nuclear technology companies and create a leading nuclear ecosystem in East Tennessee.