ANS, nuclear experts study Trump’s executive orders to overhaul industry

The EOs, which were issued on May 23, include reforms to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and plans to quadruple nuclear power production—from 100 GW to 400 GW—in the next 25 years through utility uprates and deployment of new nuclear reactors. Nuclear has been widely embraced in recent years as the demand for energy is expected to soar in the coming decades.

Craig Piercy, CEO/Executive Director of ANS, shared the group’s findings on June 6. Overall, the advisory group called the orders “a significant step forward” and an “extraordinary policy commitment by the Trump administration.”

The group acknowledged that some of the goals are more aspirational than realistic—at least in the time frame laid out—and said there are some challenges that stand in the way of achieving the entire scope of the EOs, including budget constraints and tense relationships with some members of Congress.

“We took our time to look at these executive orders,” said Paul Dickman, a retired senior policy fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. “A lot of organizations put out these statements right away that were laudatory or critical. [But] we have an obligation to try to understand what they mean and explain it to our members.”

In general, Dickman added, “we see this as a positive trend . . . but the devil is in the details.”

Here’s what the ANS advisory group and other industry experts have to say about the orders:

Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base: This order focuses on energy independence and strengthening national security with nuclear—specifically by accelerating the licensing process and expanding the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, to increase nuclear capacity in the U.S. and decrease reliance on foreign fuel sources.

The advisory group supports the directive to produce a report recommending national policy to manage spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, along with making fuel recycling the official policy of the U.S.

ANS past president Michael Corradini (2012–2013), who has spent 44 years teaching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, likes the focus on education support and training. The EO directs the secretaries of education and labor to identify ways to increase participation in apprenticeships and other technical education within 120 days of Trump’s issuing.

“The focus on nonprofessional degrees that create a supply chain for the workforce—in terms of electricians, pipe fitters, instrumentation specialists, and of that is going to be necessary,” Corradini said. “The education support needed isn’t necessarily degreed engineers. It’s going to be technicians, and we’ve always known that to be the case.”

“But if you don’t continually build in a steady stream,” Corradini continued, “you lose that supply chain in just a matter of years.”

Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: This order, which calls for the quadrupling of U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050, mandates a comprehensive review and revision of current NRC regulations, with a focus on efficiency and technological advancement, along with implementing structural and cultural reforms to better align the commission with congressional directives.

ANS Position Statement #46 states that NRC processes can be cumbersome and prescriptive, and that the “lack of integrated decision-making often leads to focus on isolated objectives that may not optimize overall outcomes.”

However, Dickman said, “While the NRC can and should improve, there’s no replacement for them, and maintaining their independence is important. . . . [The commission] judges on merits, and utilities rely on the regulatory certainty that is provided through the NRC process.”

Rani Franovich, vice president of regulatory affairs at nuclear waste disposal start-up Deep Fission, applauded the call to reform the NRC. “Renovating NRC’s organizational culture is a vital first step toward regulatory reform,” she said. “The [Trump administration] gets that . . . the NRC needs change agents and lots of them.”

Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security: This order calls for “the rapid development, deployment, and use of advanced nuclear technologies to support national security objectives.” It directs the U.S. Army to develop a program of record to deploy nuclear generation on sites owned or controlled by the DOE to power artificial intelligence infrastructure for defense needs.

The ANS executive advisory group applauded the call for more nuclear exports from the U.S. and said when it comes to putting some meat on the bones of these international agreements, “it will be critically important that the departments of Energy and State have sufficient experienced personnel tasked with negotiating [with] them.”

Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at DOE: The order looks to reform national laboratory reactor testing, expediting the review and approval of advanced reactors under the DOE’s jurisdiction. It also directs the secretary of energy to establish a pilot program to construct and operate reactors outside national laboratories, as was allowed under the Atomic Energy Act enacted in 1946, with a goal of achieving operational status in three new reactors by July 4, 2026.

The ANS advisory group wants to see clarity from the White House on the scope and role of the DOE’s and Department of Defense’s authority in regulating reactors.

“It is unclear whether either the DOD or the DOE [has] the capacity to support a significantly expanded pipeline of projects, especially with the lack of recent authorization experience at the DOD,” the group said in the report. “Any DOD or DOE efforts must be well coordinated with the NRC. . . . It is important to avoid duplicative regulatory requirements, conflicting standards across agencies, and a burdensome licensing process or even legal concerns that inject uncertainty into nuclear investments.”

Steve Arndt, ANS past president (2022–2023) and current adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, said he’s concerned about maintaining the independence of the NRC and that agencies have enough time to review

“One of the reasons the NRC has been held as a gold standard [globally], is they’ve had really good scientific leaders and they’ve been allowed to use their scientific and engineering knowledge to do what they think is best,” Arndt said.

He also thinks some of the timelines laid out in the EOs, some are extremely aggressive. “Is it possible? Absolutely. Is it going to be easy? No,” Arndt said.

What’s next: Juliann Edwards, chief technology officer at The Nuclear Company, is happy with Trump’s “four-pronged” approach to growing nuclear power.

“It shows me that he’s got a team” informing him about industry challenges and opportunities, Edwards said. “But people often think, ‘Hey, that was the hard work,’ but in reality, now is where the hard work really begins. So, it's time for the industry to step up.”