On April 28, during a virtual conference on “Innovation and the Future of Energy” sponsored by the Atlantic Council, featuring Senator Joe Manchin and TVA President Jeff Lyash (a Trump appointee), Lyash said that, while TVA is committed to shutting down its coal plants, “we cannot attain our goal of 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035 unless we preserve and extend the life of our existing nuclear fleet. To close that gap between 80% and 100%, we need new ways to attain energy storage, carbon capture and new nuclear in the form of small modular reactors.”