Executive orders reportedly being drafted by the White House could fundamentally change nuclear power policy by shifting more authority to federal departments to approve reactor designs and projects with the goal of quadrupling capacity by 2040.
Four separate draft orders reportedly outlined the possibility of expanding nuclear power by restructuring the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC), allowing the Department of Energy (DOE) to lead nuclear research and development projects, leveraging other departments to increase production and having DOE streamline the supply chain process, according to a review by Politico’s E&E News. The orders could also allow President Donald Trump to expand the technology during his second term, according to the outlet.
One draft would order the NRC, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), DOE and “other agencies” to complete a “wholesale regulatory revision” of NRC rules in 18 months, according to the publication. This reportedly includes reconsidering the NRC radiation safety standard threshold, finalizing a deadline for license application reviews, speeding up approvals for reactors tested at DOE and Department of Defense (DOD) sites and shrinking a subset of the NRC that independently reviews all nuclear licensing actions.
It is not clear when or if Trump will sign any of these reported executive order drafts. The White House did not respond to Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for confirmation or comment.
The NRC is an independent agency created by Congress in 1974 to set safety standards related to nuclear power and regulate commercial plants. All commercial nuclear power plants in the country need a license from the NRC to operate and are held to the agency’s regulatory standards.
Other executive order drafts reportedly expressed the need to power the rapidly expanding tech industry, some of them categorizing energy expansion as a national security matter, according to Politico.
The second draft reviewed by the publication calls for DOE to lead at least three pilot and demonstration reactor projects on federal lands and national labs with the goal of completing construction by July 2026.
“The Department [DOE] shall approve at least three reactors pursuant to this pilot program with the goal of completing construction of each of the three reactors by July 4, 2026,” it reads, according to Politico.
The third draft reportedly calls to leverage the DOD and the State Department to expand nuclear power, giving them 60 days to “identify 9 military facilities at which advanced nuclear technologies can be immediately installed and deployed,” focusing on bases in the Arctic and Indo-Pacific. It would also reportedly have the secretary of energy “site, approve, and authorize the design, construction, and operation of privately-funded advanced nuclear technologies” at DOE sites for “the purpose of powering AI infrastructure,” classifying them as “critical” to national defense.
Immediately after returning to the White House, Trump declared a national energy emergency, stating that the “integrity and expansion of our Nation’s energy infrastructure” is “an immediate and pressing priority for the protection of the United States’ national and economic security.” The order also called for cutting “undue burdens” on the nuclear energy sector.”
The last order draft mentions bolstering the energy supply chain, funding the reinstatement of closed nuclear plants, improving the “nuclear engineering talent pipeline” and having DOE focus on uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel recycling.
Critics who spoke with Politico expressed concerns over potential more lenient safety standards and federal micromanagement of NRC that could minimize its efficiency, though several energy policy experts that have spoken with the DCNF highlight the regulatory burdens that slow down nuclear expansion.
“The Nuclear Regulatory Agency is one of the slowest moving entities in the universe when it comes to assessing new technologies and nuclear power,” JD Foster, former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget who would routinely sit in on meetings regarding nuclear regulatory policy, previously told the DCNF. “In this country, we’ve made it so difficult that it’s almost impossible to build a nuclear power plant.”
“We set an impossible goal,” Foster continued, referencing strict nuclear power regulations, some of which require a 10,000-year waste management requirement, which states a nuclear waste repository must keep radiation doses to people below a safe limit during that time after the material is buried.
“The [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] NRC has improved its licensing efficiency over the past few years,” a public affairs officer for the NRC wrote to the DCNF previously.
The official at the time pointed to the reduction in time needed to reach a licensing decision and a “drastically streamlined” application process that resulted in a nuclear reactor construction permit being issued within 18 months. The NRC also referenced their announcement that they are ahead of schedule for the “safety portion of our review for TerraPower’s construction permit application.”
The White House, DOE, the DOD, and the OIRA did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for confirmation or comment, while the NRC and State Department declined to comment.
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