President Trump signed four executive orders aimed at increasing U.S. nuclear energy production as energy-hungry artificial intelligence and data centers strain the nation’s electricity grid.
The orders give Energy Secretary Chris Wright the authority to approve advanced reactor designs and projects instead of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has regulated the industry for 50 years. Another gives the NRC an 18-month deadline to rule on industry applications and reorganizes the independent agency in an attempt to speed up those reviews.
“This is a huge day for the nuclear industry. Mark this day on your calendar,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who was in the Oval Office to witness Mr. Trump signing the executive orders Friday. “This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of the industry.
“We’ve got enough electricity to win the AI arms race with China,” he said. “What we do in the next five years related to electricity is going to determine the next 50” years in the industry.
Mr. Trump called nuclear a “hot industry, it’s a brilliant industry.”
“You have to do it right,” he said. “It’s become very safe and environmental.”
Nuclear energy reactors release no greenhouse gases.
The other orders would allow the Energy Department to build nuclear reactors on federal land, overhaul nuclear energy research at the department, and expand uranium mining in the U.S.
“We are restoring a strong American nuclear industrial base, rebuilding a secure and sovereign domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, and leading the world towards a future fueled by American nuclear energy,” White House Office of Science and Technology Director Michael Kratsios said. “These actions are critical to American energy independence and continued dominance in AI and other emerging technologies.”
Critics of nuclear energy highlight concerns about the disposal of nuclear waste, the effects of radiation exposure, and the possibility of a reactor meltdown or attack.
Other groups applauded the move, including Constellation Energy, the nation’s largest operator of nuclear plants, which said: “The administration has rightly focused on common sense initiatives to expand the existing fleet with fast-track licensing, increase domestic conversion and enrichment of nuclear fuel, and accelerate the deployment of new reactors — all while maintaining the NRC’s track record of being a responsible regulator to what is considered the safest nuclear fleet in the world.”
The president also signed a fifth executive order promoting “gold standard science.”
The goal is to “recenter policy-making around gold standard science, scientific efforts that have followed appropriate scientific methods that don’t include those sorts of conflicts of interest, and to ensure that when departments and agencies are relying on scientific studies, to promulgate rules, to promulgate regulations, that the science that they’re relying on is highly, highly reliable and available to the public,” said White House staff secretary Will Scharf.
Besides Mr. Burgum, those attending the signing were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and energy executives, including Joseph Dominguez of Constellation Energy, Jacob DeWitte of Oklo, and Scott Nolan of General Matter.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
