The massive expansion of AI computing demand is elevating the strategic value of continuous power supply, while small modular reactors (SMRs) are seeing new regulatory progress, according to a report from a financial news outlet.
According to the latest official media notice from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is expected on Tuesday to approve the construction of the first 300-megawatt BWRX-300 reactor at its Clinch River site in Tennessee. TVA is considering deploying up to four units, but this license covers only the first one.
The significance of this latest positive move by the U.S. government on nuclear power is that advanced nuclear power is gradually crossing the licensing threshold, creating conditions for future new generating capacity. This expected approval is a construction permit and does not yet mean the unit can enter commercial operation.
The BWRX-300 is a small modular reactor (SMR) that specifically adopts the boiling water reactor (BWR) technology pathway within light water reactors, with a single-unit electrical output of approximately 300 megawatts. Compared with traditional large nuclear plants, the BWRX-300 and the broader SMR route significantly reduce the amount of concrete and steel required per megawatt, and offer factory prefabrication and rapid on-site assembly, greatly shortening construction timelines.
From the perspective of underlying energy engineering, nuclear power supply, especially the SMR technology route, can be described as one of the most strategically valuable long-term power sources for the large-scale AI data centers now being built. High-density AI GPU superclusters require stable power supply that is uninterrupted year-round, with extremely high load factors and strict power quality and clean environmental attributes. Nuclear power has a typical capacity factor of more than 90%, extremely high fuel energy density, very low operational carbon emissions required by tech giants' social responsibility commitments, and asset lifetimes of decades, which can reduce data centers' reliance on weather, natural gas pipelines, and long-distance transmission.
Compared with gigawatt-scale traditional nuclear power, the SMR nuclear technology route, through factory prefabrication, passive safety, and modular expansion, can in theory be deployed with a lower per-project capital threshold, in step with data centers scaling from tens of megawatts to hundreds of megawatts, and can be built near load centers. However, these cost advantages only hold once the "Nth-of-a-kind" batch replication stage is reached; the first unit may instead be the most expensive.
Large technology giants including Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are increasingly turning to small modular reactor technology, which is still in its early development stage, to meet data centers' future large-scale demand for efficient and clean power. The Trump administration has also publicly supported the nuclear energy industry, promising to reduce cumbersome regulation and investing tens of billions of dollars to build new reactors and restart old reactors that had been abandoned.
Tennessee Project Reaches Key Approval Milestone as Large-Scale SMR Nuclear Power Moves from Customer Commitments Toward On-Time Delivery
Under the global low-carbon and full decarbonization trend now and for a long time to come, nuclear energy, as an efficient and stable clean energy source, has become one of the most favored energy sources in recent years for tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. This energy source, combining clean, stable, and efficient attributes, is expected to provide powerful 24-hour uninterrupted electricity support for their enormous data centers. As a result, global politicians and technology companies may now support nuclear energy and nuclear power plants more strongly than at any time since the 1970s.
A U.S. regulatory agency is about to approve the Tennessee Valley Authority's proposal to build a small nuclear reactor, an important signal of progress for the nuclear fission industry. According to a media notice issued by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to issue a construction permit on Tuesday allowing the agency to build a 300-megawatt unit at the Clinch River site west of Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is considering deploying up to four BWRX-300 reactors supplied by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, though this license covers only the first unit, confirming news from Bloomberg News last week. GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy is one of dozens of companies developing new, smaller-scale reactors. These reactors are expected to be manufactured in factories and then shipped to sites for assembly, aiming to reduce costs and shorten construction times. However, this concept remains to be proven; currently, outside China and Russia, only two such reactors are under construction.
This would be the second construction permit issued in the United States for a small commercial modular reactor, after TerraPower received approval in March for a project in Wyoming. In Canada, Ontario Power Generation began construction last year on the world's first BWRX-300 unit.
High-Quality Reliable Power Is Where AI Ends Up: U.S. Small Nuclear Reactors Approach Construction Threshold
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected on Tuesday to approve the construction of the first 300-megawatt BWRX-300 reactor at its Clinch River site in Tennessee. Advanced SMR technology route nuclear plants can be described as gradually crossing the licensing threshold, creating conditions for future new generating capacity.
From the operating mechanism of AI inference systems, intelligent agents extend a single request into multiple rounds of model calls, tool execution, and result verification, causing GPUs, CPUs, memory, networking, and cooling systems to jointly bear the load of continuous operation. As user scale, task frequency, and concurrency expand, data centers need to simultaneously ensure power supply capacity and service continuity. Nuclear power therefore offers three power attractions that go beyond carbon emissions: continuously providing large-scale electricity, reducing sensitivity to weather and short-term fossil fuel prices, and improving cost predictability through long-term power purchase arrangements. Nuclear power can provide stable baseload, while grids, energy storage, and backup power work together to handle maintenance and load fluctuations; this combination helps reduce the time that expensive computing equipment sits idle due to insufficient power supply.
The U.S. Department of Energy also lists continuous power supply, longer refueling cycles, and a relatively low share of fuel costs as the main advantages of combining nuclear power with data centers. Tech giants have already begun converting future electricity demand into early-stage funding support for nuclear projects.
Nuclear power newcomer Oklo's cooperation with tech giant Meta involves a nuclear park of up to 1.2 gigawatts in Ohio. The agreement includes mechanisms for prepaid electricity fees and early development funding, with the first phase targeted to come online as early as 2030. On fuel, Oklo signed a letter of intent in June with Centrus to purchase HALEU fuel, with deliveries intended to begin in 2029, supporting multi-year operating needs for up to five Aurora units; specific supply still requires a formal agreement to be finalized. In August, Oklo's Groves low-power isotope test reactor achieved first criticality, accumulating construction and commissioning experience for subsequent projects; this progress is a different milestone from the commissioning of the Aurora commercial power project.
The so-called "reliable power premium"—electricity that can be delivered on schedule and support high-utilization computing operations—is gaining higher commercial value. The BWRX-300 chosen by TVA directly corresponds to the nuclear businesses of GE Vernova and Hitachi, and it uses GNF2 fuel, which already has a commercial supply base, helping reduce delivery uncertainty from new fuel development. For investors, what matters most for the SMR nuclear technology route is that licensing progress, fuel security, construction costs, and long-term power purchase arrangements together determine whether companies can convert AI demand into cash flow. Modular construction of small reactors is expected to improve construction timelines and replication efficiency, while the actual costs and delivery performance of the first batch of projects will determine whether this advantage can generate sustainable returns.
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