< Previous98 JANUARY 2025 SITE SELECTION T he nine-state Tennessee Valley Authority region’s population of around 10 million people is growing three times faster than the national average. 2023 saw the region’s GDP grow by 3%, outpacing the national average of 2.5%. Which means it’s time for innovation to outpace the competition. In today’s world of manufacturing reshoring and data-driven commerce, power provision is job one for any region. Which is why current plans call for TVA to invest more than $15 billion in new generation by 2028 to meet the region’s growth. Through a combination of innovative thinking, stakeholder relationships and decisive actions, TVA and its Economic Development team are poised to grow jobs, company operations and the organization’s power generation portfolio. With the upsurge in nuclear power interest, sometimes all three happen at once. In December, the U.S. Department of Energy selected six companies from which it can sign contracts to procure low enriched uranium (LEU) in order to incentivize the build-out of new uranium production capacity in the United States and build resilient supply chains free from Russian influence. Half of them — Orano Federal Services, LLC, operated by Orano USA; American Centrifuge Operating, LLC; and Laser Isotope Separation Technologies, Inc. — have current or planned facilities at the renowned Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Orano USA, a business of France-based nuclear power giant Orano Group, last year announced it would create more than 300 jobs and invest billions of dollars in a new uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge in Roane County. Orano will be the second company to locate in Tennessee utilizing the state’s Nuclear Energy Fund, which assists nuclear energy-related businesses choosing to relocate or grow in the state and supports the state’s universities and research institutions. The $50 million fund was in Gov. Bill Lee’s 2023-2024 budget and approved by the Tennessee General Assembly. An additional $10 million was allocated in 2024. Just as crucial were the collaboration and support of TVA and the communities and institutions it serves. “For siting our future facility, Roane County, Tennessee, had something the other places did not,” Jean-Luc Palayer, CEO of Orano USA, told Site Selection Associate Editor Alexis Elmore in December. “We selected Roane County because of its unique combination of warm welcome and support from county leaders and the community, the impressive regional education network to help provide our 300+ future employees, and the world- class reliable energy generated by TVA. We were not TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY INTELLIGENCE REPORT New Surge in Nuclear Powers a Virtuous Cycle of Economic Development in TVA Territory The first company to use the State of Tennessee’s Nuclear Energy Fund to support an investment was Type One Energy, whose Project Infinity will make the former Bull Run Fossil Plant in Clinton (archive photo), the future home of its first stellarator fusion energy device, Infinity One (pictured). Images courtesy of TVA and Type One Energy100 JANUARY 2025 SITE SELECTION looking to just build a facility — we wanted to fi nd a site where we can bring and experience the best in a great community, and Roane County was exactly the community we were looking for.” Work on “Project Ike” (code-named after U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower) began for TVA Economic Development Target Market Specialist Meryl Harris the day after Christmas when she got a call about a project lead that — typical of TVA’s cross-functional teamwork — came through the organization’s nuclear fuel team. Her colleague Bill Adams, senior target market specialist in product development and a site development pioneer, says such teamwork is required, especially in today’s fast-turnaround business climate. “ e TVA Region is big — , square miles in seven states,” he says. “Much of that territory is growing at a signifi cant pace from every direction — industrial, commercial, retail, residential. ere is considerably more demand on our system than even fi ve or years ago. So, we have to be much more prescriptive when it comes to helping our communities with site planning and development as it relates to power supply. at requires much more coordination with TVA’s other business units like generation and transmission planning, as well as our local power companies. Coordination is no small task, but it is critical for making the right investments. You can’t work in a silo.” Orano had hired Memphis-based site selection consultants J.M. Mullis, Inc. e original specs included -, acres in East Tennessee, where, Harris points out, acres of relatively fl at land is diffi cult to fi nd. It was a long-term timeline for permitting, “but still,” she says, “you can’t just take fi ve farms, piece it together and put a nuclear facility there.” What did fi t the bill was a DOE-owned property in Oak Ridge. Harris and the team quickly submitted the site for consideration and started talking with the DOE, Oak Ridge and area economic development leaders. “ e transfer and cleanup from DOE was a unique aspect,” she says. “It can tell a story for other communities. It shows long term commitment of a federal organization toward economic development,” specifi cally the DOE Offi ce of Environmental Management at Oak Ridge, whose main charge is to clean up sites at Oak Ridge and the Y- National Security Complex (originally used to develop nuclear weapons in the early s) for industrial development. “ ey had a road map and timelines ready for the client,” Harris says. “If someone comes to the table with a history of success, that gives the companies confi dence to continue moving forward.” A secret weapon for TVA was Target Market Specialists Manager Adam Murray, who spent his early years in France and, Harris says, can eff ortlessly shift from Mississippi Adam Murray to someone “who does not sound like an American speaking French.” Higher education institutions played their part too. “Tennessee has really been leading the charge on the workforce side because of their history in nuclear,” Harris says, noting a new associate’s degree program in nuclear engineering at Adam Murray, Manager, Target Market Specialists, TVA Economic Development Map and graphics by Laddy Fields and Brett Hopwood courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory East Tennessee’s nuclear industry is growing rapidly. Businesses are introducing new reactor and fuel designs. Institutions such as ORNL, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee are providing knowledge and support. And local colleges are ensuring this growing industry has a skilled workforce. Here are just a few of the region’s major players. SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2025 101 Roane State Community College and another new nuclear engineering program that made its debut in fall 2024 at Tennessee Tech. The University of Tennessee founded the nation’s first nuclear engineering program in 1957, which continues to grow. In her former role with the State of Tennessee three years ago, Harris helped attract the unfolding investment from Kairos Power (see p. 106), which sparked her to work in the nuclear power space. Since that time, hyperscale data center companies (such as Google, which is working with Kairos) have begun to seriously explore small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) as power sources. And industrial companies of all stripes are hungry to diversify their power generation portfolios. “They ask ‘What’s your diversity mix and generation portfolio?’ and they like to see that nuclear piece,” Harris says. While Tennessee is most closely identified with the nuclear power ecosystem, Harris says she sees potential across TVA territory. “In the Valley, everyone has a knowledge, comfort and familiarity with the nuclear industry,” she says.“Everybody has a piece of the pie in moving this clean industry forward.” Meryl Harris, Target Market Specialist, TVA102 JANUARY 2025 SITE SELECTION M arianne Wanamaker, Dean of the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, is shown here discussing findings from the 2024 Tennessee Advanced Energy Economic Impact Report with TVA CEO Jeff Lyash; Matt Kisber, co-founder & chairman of Silicon Ranch, and Jean- Luc Palayer, CEO of Orano USA, at the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council’s 2024 Opportunities in Energy Event held in November in Knoxville. At the Orano project announcement in September, Lyash said, “TVA believes nuclear energy must be a part of our regional and national drive toward a clean energy future — and the state of Tennessee is leading the way. East Tennessee’s status as a nuclear technologies incubator is made possible through partnerships between TVA, the Department of Energy, state and local POWERFUL CONVENING IN KNOXVILLE. Photo courtesy of TAEBC SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2025 103 economic development agencies, elected officials and innovative companies like Orano. Working together, we will advance nuclear technologies that are crucial to supporting not only energy security, but also national security.” Among the report’s findings: • The advanced energy (AE) sector in Tennessee employs 420,632 Tennesseans, and includes 22,554 businesses that contribute almost $56 billion to the state’s GDP. • Total AE employment has grown by 6.8% since 2019, higher than growth in overall jobs across all sectors in the state over the same time period. Growth in the number of AE business establishments since 2019 was 10.9% — almost twice the growth rate in total business establishments in the state. • Findings imply an average annual AE salary of $74,025 — 31% higher than the state’s average salary of $56,609. 104 JANUARY 2025 SITE SELECTION TVA’S BILL ADAMS ON RESILIENCE, SITE DEVELOPMENT, TEAMWORK AND COORDINATION What is your personal experience of how TVA communities and TVA’s own teams have banded together in response to Hurricane Helene, particularly where it involves active or prospective economic development projects or sites? Bill Adams: Of course, our first order of business was to work with our local power companies and stabilize the power infrastructure. The next task was to band together with local, state, and federal entities and economic development offices to define the clean- up and rebuilding process. It’s very complex, as you might imagine. In Erwin, Tennessee, the entire industrial park was wiped out. It’s just shocking to see. It’s hard to grasp the order of magnitude of the damage. TVA Economic Development’s job is to be supportive and provide resources where it makes the most sense. We’re part of a multi-entity task force to help get the park operational again and companies back in business. Lots of site analysis and utility and roadway assessments, especially since the floods changed the landscape significantly. Which communities or projects stand out to you from the past year in terms of collaborative product development, quick turnaround or overall teamwork? Bill Adams: We have the privilege to work very closely with local, regional, and state economic development offices to collaborate on site development. In terms of getting sites in a marketable position, the sum is greater than its parts. By pooling our resources, we can make exponential progress. We are constantly scanning site development opportunities, and we inject resources where there is a clear supply and demand imbalance. For instance, we’ve worked closely with the State of Tennessee and the economic development leadership in Robertson County to create a new 200+- acre industrial park in White House. That was a much-needed Nashville market solution. Another is Lawrence County, Alabama. Over the last year, we’ve collaborated with Norfolk Southern, Lawrence County, our local power company and the State of Alabama to bring a new 100-acre rail site known as “RailFlex” into the market. There seems to always be a demand for 100+ acre rail sites; so, that was a nice addition to the portfolio. Our 2024 Top Utilities citation for TVA included product development success stories at Aluminum Dynamics in Mississippi and Georgia Pacific in Tennessee. What stands out to you about those projects or others? Bill Adams: The impacts projected for those two projects reinforce why product development is so critical. Both projects were burning a fast fuse to make a site location decision. The sites had to be ready-to-go. The benefits of these projects rightfully got the media’s attention. But I think we take equal pride in that through years of strategic planning and investments from many local, state, and federal resources, including TVA Economic Development, those properties were in a marketable position to win. Investment-minded teams win deals. You see it play out that way over and over again. How frequently is adaptive reuse part of product development? Bill Adams, Senior Target Market Specialist, Product Development, TVA SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2025 105 Bill Adams: Overall, the TVA region has been blessed with developable land in much of the territory. However, the emphasis toward redevelopment is very real for us, especially in high-demand/ low-supply markets, as well as areas where the topography is tough. We’ve always been open to investments in adaptive reuse, but we’re being much more proactive about it now. It takes much more coordination, collaboration, money and patience. You have to get at peace with the long game and know your tipping points when it comes to levels of investment. TVA plans to invest $16 billion through FY27 on new power generation and infrastructure enhancement. Describe how you coordinate product development with this investment. Bill Adams: One thing is for sure: TVA adapts to new realities. We’re good at it. Our Economic Development team and generation and transmission teams are in close communication. They want to know where demand is forecasted, where new sites are coming online — particularly large sites, and where we think new product is needed in the region based on historical or forecasted demand. So, we’re hand-in-glove with our full internal team when it comes to coordinating infrastructure investments and product development. We even have a full-time staffer in our Product Development group whose sole job is handling that internal coordination.A year after receiving approval from the NRC for the construction of the $100 million Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor, Kairos Power is now in the midst of build-out at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. The nation’s first Gen IV reactor and first non-light-water reactor to receive approval in over 50 years, the site aims to produce affordable nuclear heat by 2027. Building upon the knowledge and experience gained through an Engineering Testing Unit at Kairos’ site in New Mexico, this project will deliver the company’s first ever nuclear build. The fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor will harness technologies combining tristructural- isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel and Flibe molten fluoride salt coolant to safely simplify the reactor’s design. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been a key player in making this technology accessible for companies like Kairos Power. Since 2002, ORNL’s Coated Particle Fuel Development Lab has worked to advance the nation’s capabilities for fabrication and characterization of TRISO particle fuel. “The real goal in developing TRISO fuels is to provide a fuel form that’s very robust and resilient, that can operate under a huge range of conditions and reduce the risk of any kind of release of radioactive material in an accident,” says Oak Ridge National Laboratory Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division Director David Pointer. “Those drivers have led to a fuel form that can be applied to produce a lot of different end goals. Whether you want to produce electricity or heat that can be used to operate industrial facilities, it provides opportunities to do both.” Kairos Power evaluated several sites across the nation for the project. Kairos Power CEO and Co-founder Mike Laufer says the site selection process came down to desirable attributes such as the opportunity to collaborate with ORNL and the ability to tap into the Tennessee Valley Authority’s extensive nuclear expertise and the A YEAR OF FIRSTS FOR KAIROS POWER SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2025 107 University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s strong engineering program. With the November 2024 approval by the NRC of a Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant investment approved, Kairos Power will additionally construct the nation’s first nuclear electricity-producing Gen IV plant. The Hermes 2 facility will house two 35-megawatt thermal test reactors and a shared power generation system, located 18 minutes away from the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor site at the Heritage Center Industrial Park. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says operational data gathered here will be vital to future development of a larger version for commercial electricity production. “We need all options on the table to address the threat of climate change. Nuclear energy is a potent decarbonization tool that complements renewable sources like wind and solar,” says Laufer. With all this activity, Kairos Power caught the attention of Google, which plans to partner with the company to deploy 500 MW of nuclear power projects in the U.S. by 2035. This move marks the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors (SMRs). “Google has a deep understanding of Kairos Power’s novel approach built on iterative technology demonstration and in-house manufacturing,” says Laufer. “By coming alongside in the development phase, Google is not just a customer; they’re a partner that sees our potential and will play a role in our success.” Kairos Power plans to handle the development, construction and operations of a number of advanced reactor plants in proximity to Google data centers starting in 2030. The company will sell energy, ancillary services and environmental attributes to Google through Power Purchase Agreements. “Kairos Power’s innovative agreement with Google for multiple reactors of the same design will catalyze new nuclear deployment in the U.S. and expand access to clean energy that is safe, reliable, and affordable,” says Laufer. “The scale of what we are trying to accomplish is daunting, and it will require a lot of hard work to make it a reality. But we believe Kairos Power’s approach is the right one to realize advanced nuclear’s full potential to transform our energy landscape.” — Alexis ElmoreNext >