Trump signs orders to overhaul Nuclear Regulatory Commission, speed reactor deployment

[Elderberry]

CNBC by Spencer Kimball 5/23/2025

Key Points

•   President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent agency that regulates the nation’s fleet of nuclear reactors.

•   A senior administration official said the overhaul could result in staff reductions.

•   Other orders require the commission to decide on reactor licenses within 18 months, and open the way for the departments of Energy and Defense to build reactors on federal land.

President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders Friday to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and speed the deployment of new nuclear power reactors in the U.S.

The NRC is a 50-year-old independent agency that regulates the nation’s fleet of nuclear reactors. Trump’s orders call for a “total and complete reform” of the agency, a senior White House official told reporters in a briefing. Under the new rules, the commission will be required to decide on nuclear reactor licenses within 18 months.

Trump said Friday the orders focus on small, advanced reactors that are viewed by many in the industry as the future. But the president also said his administration supports building large plants.

“We’re also talking about the big plants — the very, very big, the biggest,” Trump said. “We’re going to be doing them also.”

Nuclear executives joined Trump for the signing ceremony, including Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez. Constellation is the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S. Nuclear stocks rallied Friday in response to the president’s actions.

More: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/23/trump-nuclear-executive-order.html

[Hoodat]

A day late and a dollar short for Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle's Units 3 and 4.

[The_Reader_David]

Of course, Trump is talking about big njuclear power plants.

While the initiative is good, what we really should focus on is small modular nuclear reactors that can be located close to where power is used, not huge plants out in the desert.

[Smokin Joe]

Of course, Trump is talking about big njuclear power plants.

While the initiative is good, what we really should focus on is small modular nuclear reactors that can be located close to where power is used, not huge plants out in the desert.

They do use quite a bit of water, so not likely to end up in the desert.

[Elderberry]

Kairos Power’s reactor plans for Oak Ridge and beyond

OAKRIDGER by Carolyn Krause 3/1/2025

Excavating land at the old K-25 site began last year

This is the first of two stories on Kairos Power’s plans for building test reactors in Oak Ridge this decade and nuclear power plants next decade using two technologies based on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) innovations.

Three construction permits from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for three proposed advanced nuclear reactors that will be cooled with molten salt instead of the water used in conventional reactors. A partnership with Google, which wants nuclear power as a reliable source of electricity for its power-hungry data centers to be used to test artificial intelligence chatbots and other models.

A completed excavation of an Oak Ridge site for the new reactors that will use uranium fuel, located where a gaseous diffusion plant once produced enriched uranium for nuclear power plants. 

Those were some of Kairos Power’s achievements in the past year or so, starting in December 2023 when the first construction permit was granted to the company based in Alameda, California.

An update on Kairos Power’s progress in 2024 and timelines over the next decade for its advanced Generation IV nuclear reactor projects in Oak Ridge and elsewhere was provided by company officials during a recent Zoom call with a volunteer reporter for The Oak Ridger.  

Edward Blandford, Kairos Power’s co-founder and chief technology officer, and Ashley Lewis, senior marketing communications manager, were on the call from California. 

On Dec. 12, 2023, the NRC voted to issue a construction permit to Kairos Power for the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor. Kairos Power said that its first test reactor will show the company’s capability to deliver nuclear heat as part of its quest to provide safe, affordable, carbon-free nuclear power to meet growing demands for electricity and to delay climate change. 

The 35-megawatt-thermal (35 MWt) high-temperature nuclear reactor, which will be cooled by a molten fluoride salt, was the first U.S. non-water-cooled reactor to receive a construction permit in more than 50 years. The company calls its concept the Kairos Power fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) technology. 

More: https://www.oakridger.com/story/news/local/2025/02/28/kairos-powers-reactor-plans-for-oak-ridge-and-beyond/79325875007/

[ChemEngrMBA]

Of course, Trump is talking about big njuclear power plants.

While the initiative is good, what we really should focus on is small modular nuclear reactors that can be located close to where power is used, not huge plants out in the desert.

Point out the "huge plants out in the desert" on this map of nuclear power plants in the U.S.