TVA developing plans for 20 small nuclear reactors to power Tennessee Valley by 2050 (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

To decarbonize and electrify America’s economy, the head of the nation’s biggest public power utility thinks several hundred new nuclear reactors may be needed in the next generation, including 20 or so new smaller reactors across the Tennessee Valley.

In a talk to business investors and nuclear power leaders this week, TVA President Jeff Lyash said the utility’s initial efforts to build small modular reactors near Oak Ridge will serve as a model to construct more than a dozen other such reactors in TVA’s seven-state region. The reactors will help provide around-the-clock, carbon-free energy needed to meet TVA’s goal of operating a carbon-free power grid by 2050.

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2022/oct/26/tva-developing-plans-tfp/#/questions

Author: Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA

Christopher K. Merker, PhD, CFA, is a director with Private Asset Management at Robert W. Baird & Co. and executive-in-residence and co-director of the Marquette S-Lab. He is also founder and chair of the board of Water + Energy Forward, a green bank focused on market-based climate solutions. He holds a PhD in investment governance and fiduciary effectiveness from Marquette University, where he has taught “Sustainable Finance” since 2009. He publishes Sustainable Finance and is co-author of The Trustee Governance Guide: The Five Imperatives of 21st Century Investing.