TENNESSEE VALLEY NUCLEAR ENERGY COALITION
As one of the nation’s premier science and technology centers, the Tennessee Valley Corridor is once again well positioned to help lead the way as we seek to meet the nation’s rising needs for safe, clean, abundant energy.
One of the obvious ways to help reduce our country’s dependency on foreign sources of energy is the reestablishment and expansion of our domestic nuclear power capabilities.
Safe, environmentally-friendly nuclear power was first developed in the United States, and it now supplies over 20 percent of the electricity used here. But in other countries (e.g. France and Japan), nuclear power is used to a far greater extent. And not only has it helped with their energy security, but it has also helped protect their environments. The key is that nuclear power plants do not emit greenhouse gases like other fossil fuel plants, nor are they dependent on unstable or hostile regions of the world for their fuel supply; two obvious and very important benefits for the United States.
Many of the Tennessee Valley Corridor’s (TVC) strongest federal partners formed the Tennessee Valley Nuclear Energy Coalition (TVNEC) to advance nuclear energy as one of the most obvious ways to help meet America’s rising need for new sources of safe, clean and abundant energy. The Coalition seeks to play a lead role in reducing our country’s dependency on foreign sources of energy by reestablishing and expanding our domestic nuclear power capabilities – particularly here in the Tennessee Valley.
Plan to Seize an Opportunity
The TVNEC was recently awarded a $100,000 planning grant through the Economic Development Administration (EDA). As part of the planning process for the Coalition, organizations were recruited to pledge matching funding, which was a requirement of the grant.
As part of other requirements of the grant, TVNEC will undertake the following activities:
- Organize a steering committee comprised of top tier sponsors from industry and government agency representatives to guide the planning efforts.
- Thoroughly examine three specific market areas:
1. Develop a supplier base in the region to support the life extension of existing nuclear plants and future new construction;
2. Establish a heavy - and perhaps ultra - heavy forgings capability in the region to support new plant construction; and
3. Deploy a new generation of small nuclear reactors drawing on the research expertise in Chattanooga, TN, Huntsville, AL, Oak Ridge, TN and regional support of this initiative.
- Organize and host a series of discussion forums to delve further into these market opportunities, to elicit key information from potential entrants into the nuclear supply chain, and to help generate private sector awareness and interest in the initiative.
- Develop executable business plans for each of these market opportunities, and begin enlisting the support of public and private sector entitites in the region to assume responsibility for carrying out the recommended actions in each arena.
Steering Committee Organizations
ATC Nuclear
Burns and Roe
EnergX
EnergySolutions
Merrick & Company
Nuclear Renaissance Advisory Team (NRAT):
- Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce
- Hamilton County
- Southeast Industrial Development Corporation
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Siskin Steel & Supply Company
State of Tennessee
Teledyne Brown Engineering
Tennesee Valley Authority
The Enterprise Center
Y-12 National Security Complex
To download the full TVNEC Value Proposition, please click here.
To download the TVNEC one-pager, please click here.
For more information, please contact:
Gary Gilmartin
Director, Tennessee Valley Nuclear Energy Coalition
Email: tvnec@tennvalleycorridor.org