Experts say Virginia is capable of building a small modular nuclear reactor today if approvals were in place
November 28, 2022
It would likely take a decade to place a small modular nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia as Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed, but nuclear experts say the technology is there to build one today if the approvals were in place.
No small modular reactor — about a third the size of a traditional nuclear reactor — currently exists in the U.S., although a few states, including Tennessee, are working toward building one. Youngkin vowed in October that Virginia will be the first state to deploy a commercial small modular reactor, and he wants to put it in Southwest Virginia.
