Fishermen cast their lines in the waters above Watts Bar Dam in Spring City, Tenn., November 2001
Tennessee will soon become the first state with a set regulatory framework for the operation of nuclear fusion machines.
Set to officially roll out on June 9, the regulations come as Tennessee attempts to position itself as both a nationwide and a global leader in nuclear energy. The framework will outline a “technology-neutral approach” toward nuclear fusion regulations and establish definitions and requirements for the licensing of fusion machines and fusion-related operations, according to a press release from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Tennessee has been an official Nuclear Regulatory Commission Agreement state for more than 60 years, which allows the state to maintain limited regulatory authority over nuclear operations within its borders. With the new framework, Tennessee will be the first state in the nation to establish its own set of regulations.
“Tennessee has been named the top state in the nation for nuclear energy industry growth, and for good reason,” says TDEC Commissioner David Salyers in a press release. “This latest step supercharges our reputation as the global hub for nuclear innovation and positions us as the most responsive state to new advanced nuclear companies clamoring to call Tennessee home.”
As defined in the new regulations, fusion machines generate nuclear energy through transforming atomic nuclei into different elements, isotopes or other particles. The state also says technology can be defined as any machine capable of directly capturing and using products like particles, heat or other electromagnetic radiation to create energy.
Type One Energy, a Knoxville-based global fusion energy provider, will soon operate a commercial site near the East Tennessee town of Oak Ridge — a community that served as a site for the Manhattan Project during the 1940s — and is expected to be among the first to receive a state license under the new framework. The site will operate as a fusion development campus fueled by projects between the University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the federally funded Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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Type One Energy’s project, dubbed “Infinity Two,” is expected to be a 400-megawatt fusion power plant utilizing stellarator technology. The company submitted its plans to TDEC in January, and construction on the power plant could begin in 2028.
In recent years, Gov. Bill Lee has lauded nuclear energy as an avenue for economic development in Tennessee. Under Lee, the Tennessee General Assembly allocated $25 million in taxpayer dollars to nuclear and quantum energy as a part of this year’s state budget.
In April, Tennessee submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy for Oak Ridge to become the site of a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus. Lee announced in January that nuclear tech company LIS Technologies will invest $1.38 billion in Oak Ridge with the creation of a Laser Uranium Enrichment Facility expected to create more than 200 jobs. Radiant Industries, a California-based nuclear energy startup, is also planning to invest $280 million in Oak Ridge, where the company plans to build the world's first mass-produced nuclear generator factory.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
