Tennessee senators call on Trump to “rescue TVA from itself”
Hagerty
Blackburn
In a strongly worded opinion piece published by Power Magazine on March 24, Tennessee Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty call for new leadership at the Tennessee Valley Authority to jumpstart its small modular reactor program.
The GOP lawmakers are looking to President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to overhaul TVA’s board of directors to drive America’s role in the nuclear renaissance. TVA is the first and only U.S. energy company to obtain an early site permit for a small modular reactor, but the utility has not progressed on physical deployment of a unit since the permit was awarded in 2019.
TVA is the largest public utility in the nation, with 10 million customers and accountability to the entire country, since its board of directors is appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
“With the right courageous leadership, TVA could lead the way in our nation’s nuclear energy revival, empower us to dominate the 21st century’s global technology competition, and cement President Trump’s legacy as ‘America’s Nuclear President,’” Blackburn and Hagerty write in the op-ed. They quote Wright’s comments in February: “As global energy demand continues to grow, America must lead the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy.”
Background: While most energy companies are owned by private citizens and investors, TVA is publicly owned. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked to create it by congressional charter in 1933, largely to support reliable electricity generation and boost other industries during the Great Depression. TVA was the first large regional planning agency of the federal government and remains the largest to this day.
Today, the utility provides electricity in seven states and sells to 153 local power companies and about 60 large industrial customers and federal installations, according to its website. The utility no longer receives taxpayer funding and relies on revenue from electricity sales. In 2024, TVA reported $12.3 billion in total operating revenues for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, USA Today reported.
TVA received its early site permit for the Clinch River SMR project in 2019, and the company announced in 2022 that it would pursue deployment of GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 small light water reactor.
Call to action: Blackburn and Hagerty write: “Having the ticket to build the first made-in-America SMR won’t take TVA very far if the status quo of a hidebound bureaucracy gets in the way. As it stands now, TVA and its leadership can’t carry the weight of this moment.”
“What’s required at this moment is clear. President Trump and Secretary Wright must apply their best-in-class leadership to rescue TVA from itself,” the senators continue.
During his first term, Trump removed two members of the TVA board, saying they supported efforts to outsource U.S. jobs to foreign workers, Reuters reported. He also called for the firing of CEO Jeff Lyash, calling him “ridiculously overpaid,” even though the president holds no authority over the company’s chief executive.
Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020 showed the CEO’s total compensation package was $8.16 million. In 2024, Lyash’s compensation was $10.5 million, earning him the label of “highest paid federal employee.” His compensation is 18 percent below the median pay for peer utility CEOs, Knox News reported.
In January, Lyash announced plans to retire by the end of TVA’s current fiscal year, September 30.
The first project: In January, TVA announced its partnership with Bechtel, Sargent & Lundy, and GE Hitachi for the first SMR project at its Clinch River site.
TVA plans to use an integrated project delivery approach to plan, design, and potentially procure, construct, and commission Clinch River Unit 1. The model is significantly different from traditional nuclear project delivery, but it’s a best practice from the construction industry and is intended to align all parties, TVA said in a January 23 news release.
TVA also announced it will be leading an application for $800 million from the Department of Energy’s Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor program with a strong coalition of partners, including Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Duke Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Indiana Michigan Power, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and Sargent & Lundy.
“Enabling and accelerating this technology will take innovation and partnership, as well as discipline and hard work. Nuclear is the most reliable and efficient energy the world has ever known, and TVA is uniquely positioned to help drive this forward,” Lyash said in the news release.
If awarded, Lyash said the funding would accelerate construction of an SMR at the Clinch River site by two years, with commercial operation starting as soon as 2033.
What’s next? Blackburn and Hagerty call for the appointment of an interim CEO at TVA to “clean up the mess and lay the groundwork for a new, long-term leader.”
The senators spell out a to-do list for TVA’s new leader, which includes the following:
Immediately filing an SMR construction application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Seeking funding from the DOE’s Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor Program.
Overcoming “analysis paralysis” to produce a first-in-class SMR.
Articulating a plan and the required resources to take the lead in ensuring American energy dominance now and into the future.
Quotable: “As a supporter of TVA, I encourage the agency to work closely with our great Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, as well as President Trump's Administration, to expand new nuclear and deploy next-generation small modular,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleishmann (D., Tenn.) shared on Facebook in response to the op-ed.
