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Issued Early Site Permit - Clinch River Nuclear Site

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted an application for an early site permit (ESP) for two or more small modular reactor (SMR) modules (up to 800 MWe, 2420 MWt) at the Clinch River Nuclear (CRN) site on May 12, 2016. NRC accepted the application for docketing and detailed technical review on December 30, 2016. TVA used the Plant Parameter Envelope (PPE) approach in its application for its analysis of the site, which means that a specific reactor design has not been selected. Although a reactor design is not specified, TVA has identified bounding parameters for a surrogate nuclear plant, which NRC will use to evaluate the suitability of the site for the building and operation of a new nuclear plant falling within those parameters. If NRC determines that the site is suitable for the building and operation of a new nuclear plant, prior to building and operation of a plant at the site, NRC would need to review and approve an additional application from TVA (either a combined license (COL) or a construction permit (CP)) that includes a specific reactor design. For details (including the application, related review schedule, and associated staff documentation), see the following topics on this page:

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Application Information

The following table provides access to the ESP Application that TVA submitted for CRN Site.

Part Description Revision
1 Administrative and Financial Information Rev. 2
Rev. 1
Rev. 0
2 Site Safety Analysis Report (SSAR) Rev. 2
Rev. 1
Rev. 0
3 Environmental Report Rev. 2
Rev. 1
Rev. 0
4 Limited Work Authorization (Not Used) N/A
5 Emergency Planning Rev. 2
Rev. 1
Rev. 0
6 Departures and Exemption Requests Rev. 2
Rev. 1
Rev. 0

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Review Schedule

Key Milestones Completion Date
Actual - A
Application Tendered 05/12/16 - A
Acceptance Review
Acceptance Review Start
 05/26/16 - A
Docketing Decision/Acceptance Review Complete
 12/30/16 - A
Review Schedule Established/Schedule Letter Issued to Applicant
 03/17/17 - A
Safety Review
Phase A - Preliminary Safety Evaluation Report (PSER) and Requests for Additional Information (RAIs) Issued
 08/04/17 - A
Phase B - Advanced Safety Evaluation (SE) with No Open Items Developed
 10/17/18 - A
Phase C - ACRS meeting on Advanced SE
 12/06/18 - A
Phase D - Final Safety Evaluation Report (SER) Issued
 06/14/19 - A
Environmental Review
Notice of Intent to Prepare EIS and Conduct Scoping
 04/13/17 - A
Phase 1 - Scoping Summary Report Issued
 10/30/17 - A
Phase 2 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Issued to EPA
 04/20/18 - A
Phase 3 - Responses to DEIS Comments Completed
 12/14/18 - A
Phase 4 - Final EIS issued to EPA
 04/03/19 - A
Hearing
Mandatory hearing by the Commission
 08/14/19 - A
Permit
Commission decision on issuance of Early Site Permit
 12/17/19 - A
Early Site Permit, ESP-006 issued
 12/19/19 - A

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Applicant Documents

The following table provides access to the documents that TVA submitted for the CRN Site ESP application review.

Date Description
12/27/16 Environmental Protection Plan Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/16/16 Aquatic Ecology Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/15/16 Site Selection Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/15/16 Information on Stability of Subsurface Materials and Foundation in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/13/16 Information on Terrestrial Ecology in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/08/16 Hydrology Information and Calculation Input and Output Files in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/08/16 Information on Alternate Cooling Water Systems in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/02/16 Information on Cumulative Radiological Health Impacts in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/02/16 Meteorological Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
12/02/16 Information on Radiation Protection and Accident Consequences in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
10/28/16 Vibratory Ground Motion Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
10/21/16 Geologic and Geotechnical Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
09/30/16 Hydrology (Groundwater) Information and Calculation Input and Output Files in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit
09/30/16 Hydrology Information and Calculation Input and Output Files in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
09/15/16 Environmental Alternatives Supplemental Items in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
08/11/16 Schedule for Submittal of Supplemental Information in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
07/28/16 Hydrology Information and Calculation Input and Output Files in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
07/28/16 Atmospheric Dispersion Calculation Input and Output Files in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
07/06/16 Siting Study in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
06/23/16 Calculation Input and Output Files in Support of the Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit Application
05/12/16 Application Transmittal letter for ESP for Clinch River Nuclear Site

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NRC Documents

This section lists documents in which the staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sent documents to TVA in conjunction with TVA's application to obtain an early site permit (ESP) for the CRN site.

Date Description
04/26/18 Federal Register Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Early Site Permit Application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site
01/05/17 Acceptance Review Results and Docketing Decision for the Clinch River Early Site Permit Application with Federal Register Notice Enclosure
08/19/16 Response to TVA Letter dated August 11, 2016
06/17/16 Acknowledgement of Receipt of the Early Site Permit Application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site with Federal Register Notice Enclosure

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Requests for Additional Information

The link below provides access to requests for additional information (RAIs) that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued in connection with its review of the application that TVA submitted to obtain an Early Site Permit (ESP) for the CRN Site. The purpose of these RAIs is to obtain all of the information that the NRC staff deems necessary to resolve any safety or environmental issues that are not adequately addressed in the application. Consequently, the applicant's responses to RAIs become supplements to the initial application. For details, see the following categories of RAIs:

All safety and environmental RAIs and the applicant's related responses can be viewed and downloaded by clicking on the eRAI Tracking Table.

Note that some RAIs and related responses may not be publicly available because they contain sensitive information.

In addition to RAIs, the NRC staff also conducts audits to support its review of the ESP application. An audit of the applicant's environmental report, as supplemented, was conducted from May 15 through August 11, 2017. The audit summary report, including a list of staff information needs for the audit and TVA's related responses, can be viewed and downloaded by clicking on the Environmental Audit Summary Report.

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Advanced Safety Evaluation Report with No Open Items for an ESP

The following table provides access to the Advanced Safety Evaluations with no Open Items that the NRC has issues in conjunction with its review of the ESP application submitted by TVA.

NOTE: Each chapter only contains the section(s) identified.

Chapter Description Accession Numbers/Links
2 Site Characteristics and Site Parameters:
Sections 2.1 & 2.2 (combined) "Geography and Demography" and "Nearby Industrial, Transportation, and Military Facilities"
 ML18102B203
Section 2.3 "Meteorology"
 ML17289B148
Section 2.4 "Hydrologic Engineering"
 ML18290A685
Section 2.5 "Geology, Seismology, and Geotechnical Engineering"
Section 2.5.1 "Geologic Characterization"
 ML17289B252
Section 2.5.2 "Vibratory Ground Motion"
 ML17289B253
Section 2.5.3 "Surface Deformation"
 ML17289B254
Section 2.5.4 "Stability of Subsurface Materials and Foundations"
 ML17289B255
Section 2.5.5 "Stability of Slopes"
 ML17289B255
3 Design of Structures, Components, Equipment, and Systems:
Section 3.5.1.6 "Aircraft Hazards"
 ML18102B150
11 Radioactive Waste Management:
Sections 11.2 & 11.3 (combined) "Radiological Effluent Release Dose Consequences from Normal Operations"
 ML17289A625
13 Conduct of Operations:
Sections 13.3 "Emergency Planning"
 ML17291A052
Section 13.6 "Physical Security"
 ML17291A112
15 Transient and Accident Analysis:
Section 15.0.3 "Radiological Consequences of Design Basis Accidents"
 ML18102B149
17 Quality Assurance:
Section 17.5 "Quality Assurance Program Description"
 ML17291A547

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Final Safety Evaluation Report for an ESP

The NRC issued the Final Safety Evaluation Report for the CRN Site ESP on June 14, 2019.

A NUREG, containing the Final Safety Evaluation Report for the CRN Site ESP will be issued subsequently, and a link to the NUREG will be provided in this section when it is publicly available.

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Scoping Summary Report

On October 30, 2017, the NRC issued the Scoping Summary Report associated with the environmental review of Tennessee Valley Authority's early site permit application for the proposed Clinch River Nuclear Site. NRC invited the applicant; Federal, Tribal, State, and local government agencies; local organizations; and individuals to participate in the scoping process by providing comments at two public meetings held on May 15, 2017, or by submitting written suggestions and comments. The National Environmental Policy Act scoping process provides an opportunity to identify issues to be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement and to highlight public concerns through public participation.

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Final Environmental Impact Statement

The NRC issued the NUREG-2226 "Environmental Impact Statement for an Early Site Permit (ESP) at the Clinch River Nuclear Site: Final Report" associated with the environmental review of Tennessee Valley Authority's early site permit application for the proposed Clinch River Nuclear Site on April 3, 2019. The companion Reader’s Guide to the final environmental impact statement is a detailed brochure to facilitate understanding of the proposed action and its potential environmental impacts.

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Clinch River Nuclear Site Early Site Permit

On December 19, 2019, the NRC issued ESP-006 for the Clinch River Nuclear Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

NRC-TVA Pre-Application Information, 2010 - 2012

From 2010 to 2012, NRC and TVA were involved in a number of pre-application interactions prior to development of TVA's current ESP application.

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Contacts

Contacts for the CRN Site ESP Application
Safety Project Managers Allen Fetter
Mallecia Sutton
Environmental Project Managers Tamsen Dozier
Contact a Public Affairs Officer

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Page Last Reviewed/Updated Friday, April 21, 2023