TVA nuclear chief joins executives with 250 years at utility

The Tennessee Valley Authority has named Alabama native Matt Rasmussen as its chief nuclear officer, building out the federal utility’s executive team after several retirements since May.

As nuclear chief, Rasmussen will oversee around 3,500 employees operating three nuclear plants which supply 40% of the electricity generated by TVA, the nation’s largest public power provider.

The three plants — Browns Ferry in Alabama, Sequoyah in Soddy-Daisy and Watts Bar in Rhea County — can generate more than 8,200 megawatts, enough electricity to power 5 million average homes.

The chief nuclear officer is typically among TVA’s top five highest-paid executives, whose compensation is included in annual financial reports each November.

Rasmussen succeeds Tim Rausch, who retired on Sept. 30 after seven years at the federally owned company. Rausch was the No. 5 highest-paid executive last year, with a salary of $663,000 and total compensation of $3.3 million after performance-based payouts and incentives.

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Only one of the leaders whose compensation was reported last year is still at the company: Don Moul, the former chief operating officer who rose to the office of CEO in April.

Rasmussen came to work at Browns Ferry in 2002 straight out of Auburn University and served as a site vice president at both the Alabama plant and Sequoyah before he was named senior vice president of nuclear operations last year.

250 YEARS AT TVA

Rasmussen’s long career at TVA follows a pattern in the current leadership team. The executives have collectively worked at the utility for 250 years, with an average tenure of 18 years. The average company tenure of more than 10,000 TVA employees is 12 years.

“We are here for the long run,” Rasmussen said during a tour of the Sequoyah plant in August. “We understand the value of the public power model. We’ve grown up together.”

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The decision to build an executive team under Moul with longevity comes as the company faces political disruptions and public power advocates warn President Donald Trump may try again to privatize parts or all of TVA.

The TVA board of directors has operated for months without a quorum for the first time in more than 25 years after Trump fired three directors without publicly providing a reason.

Having executives with decades of experience working as a team benefits the company and its employees, Rasmussen said.

“Every company in the world is a relationship-based company, whether or not an executive wants to tell you that or not,” Rasmussen said. “Our people respond to relationships. They want to feel valued every day they come to work.”

TVA, which provides power to 10 million people in a seven-state region, is headquartered in Knoxville and has more employees and operations in Chattanooga than any other city.

(READ MORE: TVA faces MAGA anger as it works to achieve Trump’s energy agenda)

Another executive oversees TVA’s effort to build in Oak Ridge the nation’s first small modular nuclear reactor. Rasmussen will be involved in new nuclear efforts and innovation.

He went before the board in 2023 to announce TVA would no longer sell its Bellefonte nuclear plant site in Alabama, where it ceased construction in 1988. The utility has not yet announced concrete plans for the site, though nuclear advocates would like to see TVA build another large-scale plant.

“It’s a phenomenal location,” Rasmussen said. “We see a future of potentially multiple technologies deployed at that Bellefonte facility.”

Rasmussen will oversee efforts to extend the lives of TVA’s nuclear power plants, including by renewing operating licenses from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. TVA expects the regulator this fall to allow Browns Ferry, which came online in 1974, to operate to 80 years.

TVA is constructing 3,570 megawatts worth of power generation, almost entirely natural gas-fired plants, as its power demand surges.

Contact business reporter Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.