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Donald Trump has directed to quickly track the rapid construction of nuclear reactors and reform the “risk aversion” culture of regulation in order to quadruple US atomic energy capacity by 2050.
On Friday, the president signed four executive orders directing the Department of Energy to facilitate the start of construction of 10 large-scale nuclear reactors by 2030 and to help fund electricity upgrades to existing nuclear reactors.
In a fact sheet with the executive order, the White House said the Nuclear Regulation Commission has a “overly risk aversion culture.”
Other measures in the order include an 18-month deadline for the NRC to approve the new reactor and increase the U.S. uranium and nuclear fuel capacity. The order was also called to the Energy and Defense Department to promote the development of nuclear reactors on federal lands.
“NRC has failed to license new reactors, despite technological advances that promise to make nuclear power safer, cheaper, more adaptable and more abundant than ever,” Factsheet said.
White House Director of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratzos said the executive order will launch a “American nuclear renaissance.”
“American great innovators and entrepreneurs have hit a brick wall when it comes to nuclear technology,” he said.
Nuclear supporters welcomed the administration’s support for the sector, which has been plagued by long delays and cost overruns to build plants for decades. They say it is necessary to meet the booming nuclear-powered artificial intelligence energy needs and reduce US carbon footprint.
“It’s an incredible day for the nuclear,” said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics. He said he plans to open a reactor in Utah by the end of the year. “The new attitude is one of control.”
Jacob Dewitte, chief executive of nuclear power startup Oklo, said the executive order provided the opportunity to “return the regulatory regime to their intentions.”
“This needs to be combined with permit reform,” he added.
The proposal to fundamentally reform the NRC raises concerns among nuclear safety advocates, but other industry experts have questioned whether the order is widespread enough. The sector is well known for being cost- and capital-intensive, and also faces tariffs and uncertain government support.
“If you plan a billion-dollar project and don’t know (period of the Inflation Reduction Act), how can you fund it if you have tax subsidies, tariffs, or something Trump is signing today?” an industry insider said.
“If I got 60 votes in the Senate, as a business person, I would have been more faith in that,” they added.
Critics of the nuclear industry warned that the actions of the Trump administration risked undermining public confidence in the sector by undermining the role of surveillance of the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
“By promoting a pathway for nuclear deployment that completely avoids regulators by fatally undermining the independence and integrity of the NRC, the Trump administration effectively ensures that the country will see serious accidents or other radiation releases.”
“Disasters like this will destroy public trust in nuclear power, and will lead other countries to reject US nuclear technology for decades to come.”
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Some industry experts said the administration’s plan to promote the construction of 10 large-scale nuclear reactors is ambitious given that only two large reactors completed in the US over the past 20 years have been completed. Both reactors at Georgia’s Vogtle plant cost over $30 billion to complete, doubling their initial estimates.
Oklo, a small modular reactor developer backed by Openai CEO Sam Altman, saw a 23% increase. Nuscale, which is also designed by SMR, has increased by 19.4%.
Stock prices of nuclear fuel company Centrus Energy rose 21.6%, while Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, rose 11.1%.
The profits of utility-scale core companies such as Constellation Energy and Dominion Energy have resulted in a rise in shares of 2.1% and 1.1%, respectively.
