's Auditor Found Up to $3.4M Overbilled on Its Reactor Permit
Summary
The Tennessee Valley Authority's inspector general audited $31.6 million a contractor billed for the construction-permit application behind the Clinch River BWRX-300 small modular reactor. It found the contractor charged subcontractor labor at its own marked-up time-and-material rates instead of actual cost: $1,045,859 excessive on the $3.1 million auditors sampled, with an estimated $2.3 million more across costs they never reviewed. The permit is before the (Docket No. 50-615), the gate to billions in construction spending.
A confirmed floor, an estimated ceiling
The audit covered $31.6 million billed⧉ July 2022-August 2025. The contract required be charged subcontractors' actual costs; the contractor applied its own time-and-material markup instead. Auditors reviewed just 31% of the $9,883,052 billed for subcontractor labor -- $3,096,220 -- and found $1,045,859 of it, about 34%, excessive. For the remaining $6.8 million, billed the same way but never reviewed, the estimated another $2.3 million excessive. Add $14,626 in unauthorized costs the contractor never credited back, and the amount flagged reaches roughly $3.4 million. Only the $1,045,859 is confirmed.
View data as table
| Confirmed excessive (reviewed sample) | 1,045,859 | Excessive billing the confirmed within the $3.1M of subcontractor costs it actually reviewed. |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated excessive (unreviewed remainder) | 2,300,000 | The 's estimate of additional excessive billing across the subcontractor costs it did not review. |
| Unauthorized-cost overbilling | 14,626 | Unauthorized costs the contractor billed and did not credit back to (a separate, non-subcontractor overbilling). |
View data as table
| Reviewed by auditors | 3,096,220 | The portion the examined; up to $1,045,859 of it was excessive. |
|---|---|---|
| Not reviewed (estimated only) | 6,786,832 | The remainder, where the estimated another $2.3M in excessive billing rather than confirming it. |
The far bigger bill is still ahead
The $31.6 million audited only covers applying for permission to build. The docketed TVA's construction-permit application⧉ for a GEH BWRX-300 reactor at Clinch River, Roane County, Tennessee (Docket No. 50-615) on July 9, 2025 and is now in technical review -- the gate to the billions in ratepayer-funded construction that would follow.
- On the $3.1 million auditors reviewed, $1,045,859 was excessive -- the contractor billed subcontractor labor at its own marked-up time-and-material rates instead of the actual subcontractor costs the contract required, per TVA OIG report 2025-17594⧉.
- The confirmed figure is a floor, not the total. The reviewed under a third of the $9.88 million in subcontractor labor billed and estimated another $2.3 million in excessive costs across the rest; with a separate $14,626 in unauthorized overbilling, the amounts flagged reach roughly $3.4 million.
- The permit is live before the . The application (Docket No. 50-615) was docketed July 9, 2025 and is in technical review toward a safety evaluation report -- the gate to the far larger, ratepayer-funded construction spend, proceeding on a track parallel to the flagged contracting.
- Most of the money was estimated, not examined. Roughly $6.8 million of the subcontractor labor was never reviewed, so the difference between the $1,045,859 confirmed and the ~$3.4 million flagged rests on the 's estimate.
"Excessive" here means billed on the wrong basis -- the contractor's marked-up rates rather than actual subcontractor cost -- not a loss confirmed as recovered. Only $1,045,859 was confirmed on the reviewed sample; the $2.3 million is the 's estimate for costs it did not examine. This piece names the contractor only as "the contractor," as the audit summary does, and describes a systemic billing finding, not an individual's conduct.
Sources(3) ▾
- Tennessee Valley Authority Office of the Inspector General, Contract For Construction Permit Application (Audit Report 2025-17594) (2026-07-28) — The Inspector General's own audit of costs a contractor billed for work on the construction-permit application to deploy a BWRX-300 small modular reactor at the Clinch River Nuclear site. Objective: whether costs billed were in accordance with the contract's terms. Scope: ~$31.6 million billed July 1, 2022 through August 31, 2025. Finding: the contractor billed subcontractor labor at its own time-and-material rates rather than actual costs and markups; of $3,096,220 in subcontractor costs reviewed, up to $1,045,859 was excessive, with an estimated additional $2.3 million across the unreviewed remainder, plus a net $7,700 in other overbilling. Hosted on the issuer's own domain (tvaoig.gov). tvaoig.gov · original document
- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (via Government Publishing Office, govinfo.gov), Tennessee Valley Authority; Clinch River Nuclear Site, Unit 1; Construction Permit Application (90 FR 31709) (2025-07-15) — The 's Federal Register notice announcing it accepted for review and docketed 's construction-permit application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site, Unit 1 reactor (GEH BWRX-300) in Roane County, Tennessee, under Docket No. 50-615. States the application was docketed July 9, 2025, sets a September 15, 2025 deadline for hearing requests, and describes the 's plan to perform a detailed technical review and document its findings in a safety evaluation report. Published in the Federal Register at 90 FR 31709 and hosted on GPO's govinfo.gov. govinfo.gov · original document
- Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (oversight.gov), Contract For Construction Permit Application (report listing) (2026-07-28) — 's official federal- portal listing of the same audit (report 2025-17594), carrying the identical summary, dollar figures, report number, and July 28, 2026 issue date. Used only to corroborate the issuer-hosted report on an independent government host. oversight.gov · original document
Comments
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Before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether the Tennessee Valley Authority may build a small modular reactor at Clinch River, 's own inspector general audited $31.6 million⧉ a contractor billed for the permit application -- and found it billed subcontractor labor at its own marked-up rates instead of actual cost. On the $3.1 million auditors reviewed, that was $1,045,859 excessive.