Trump signs order to fast-track new nuclear licences, overhaul regulatory agency

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on May 23 ordered the nation’s independent nuclear regulatory commission to cut down on regulations and fast-track new licences for reactors and power plants, seeking to shrink a multi-year process down to 18 months.

The requirement was part of a batch of executive orders signed by Mr Trump on May 23 that aim to boost US nuclear energy production amid a boom in demand from data centres and artificial intelligence (AI).

Licensing for reactors in the US can take over a decade at times, a process designed to prioritise nuclear safety but one that has discouraged new projects.

“This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of over-regulation of an industry,” US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who heads the White House Energy Dominance Council, said in the Oval Office.

The moves involve a substantial overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that includes looking at staffing levels and directing the Energy and Defence departments to work together to build nuclear plants on federal lands.

The administration envisions the Department of Defence taking a prominent role in ordering reactors and installing them on military bases, a senior White House official said.

The orders also seek to reinvigorate uranium production and enrichment in the US.

Mr Joseph Dominguez, the chief executive of US nuclear power operator Constellation Energy, said Mr Trump’s actions would help normalise the regulatory process.

“We’re wasting too much time on permitting, and we’re answering silly questions, not the important ones,” he said during the signing event.

The US and other nations have ramped up nuclear power regulation in recent decades, partly in response to reactor incidents like the meltdown at the Chernobyl plant in the former Soviet Union in 1986 and the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island plant in the US in 1979.

Developers are also now looking to deploy advanced nuclear technology such as small modular reactors (SMRs) that could potentially be built quickly and at less cost than traditional plants, but which may pose new safety challenges.

“Reorganising and reducing the independence of the NRC could lead to the hasty deployment of advanced reactors with safety and security flaws,” said Mr Ernest Moniz, former US Energy secretary and a nuclear physicist supportive of the industry.

“A major event would, like those in the past, increase regulatory requirements and set back nuclear energy for a long time,” he said.

Mr Trump declared a national energy emergency in January as one of his first acts in office, saying the US had inadequate supplies of electricity to meet the country’s growing needs, particularly for data centres that run AI systems.

Most of Mr Trump’s actions have focused on boosting fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, but administration officials also support nuclear power, which in recent years has attracted growing bipartisan support.

Some Democrats endorse nuclear because the plants do not emit planet-warming greenhouse gases, even as environmentalists have raised concerns about radioactive waste and reactor safety.

Republicans, who are less concerned about global warming, support it because they say nuclear power plants could strengthen US energy security.

Cost and competition, however, has been a major impediment to new nuclear projects, and it is unclear whether Mr Trump’s orders will be enough to overcome them.

NuScale, the only US company with an SMR design approved by regulators, axed its project in 2023 on rising costs and competition from plants that burn plentiful natural gas.

Vogtle, the last US reactor to come online, meanwhile, was about US$16 billion (S$20.5 billion) over budget and delayed by years.

The Loan Programmes Office, which the administration wants to use to finance reactor projects that banks are not willing to support, has been hit hard by Mr Trump’s job layoffs. REUTERS