Attendees at last week’s 2026 Regulatory Information Conference, hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, saw extensive discussion of new reactor technologies, uprates, fusion, multiunit deployments, supply chain, and much more.

With the industry in a state of rapid evolution, there was much to discuss. Connected to all these topics was one central theme: the ongoing changes at the NRC. With massively shortened timelines, the ADVANCE Act and Executive Order 14300, and new interagency collaboration and authorization pathways in mind, speakers spent much of the RIC exploring what the road ahead looks like for the NRC.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has released its 2025 annual performance assessments of the country’s 95 operating commercial nuclear reactors. And of the 95 reactors, all but five earned the highest marks.

Nuclear power plant assessments can fall under one of five categories: Licensee Response, Regulatory Response, Degraded Cornerstone, Degraded Performance, and Unacceptable Performance. Ninety reactors fell under Licensee Response, the highest performance category in safety and security. Plants that achieve this level of performance are subject to a Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) baseline inspection.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

So much of what is happening in federal nuclear policy these days seems driven by a common approach popularized in the technology sector. Silicon Valley calls it “move fast and break things,” a phrase originally associated with Facebook’s early culture under Mark Zuckerberg. The idea emerged in the early 2000s as software companies discovered that rapid iteration, frequent experimentation, and a willingness to tolerate failure could dramatically accelerate innovation. This philosophy helped drive the growth of the social media, smartphones, cloud computing, and digital platforms that now underpin modern economic and social life.

Today, that mindset is also influencing federal nuclear policy. The Trump administration views accelerated nuclear deployment as part of a broader competition with China for technological and AI leadership. In that context, it seems willing to accept greater operational risk in pursuit of strategic advantage and long-term economic and security objectives.

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a new webinar in its ongoing Educator Training series titled “Perspectives on Generation IV Reactors.” It was led by Edward A. Friedman, professor emeritus of technology management at Stevens Institute of Technology and the author of Nuclear Energy: Boom, Bust, and Emerging Renaissance.

I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.

Last May, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” which mandated that the NRC review and overhaul its rules within 18 months of the EO being issued.

At a public meeting on Thursday, NRC officials shared details and an overview of the rulemaking process, saying that they were on target to have these rules ready by the November 23 deadline.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has launched a new initiative to meet the government’s goal of increasing U.S. nuclear energy capacity by boosting the power output of existing nuclear reactors through uprates and restarts and by completing stalled reactor projects.

UPRISE, the Utility Power Reactor Incremental Scaling Effort, managed by Idaho National Laboratory, is to “deliver immediate results that will accelerate nuclear power growth and foster innovation to address the nation’s urgent energy needs,” DOE-NE said in its announcement.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is looking for feedback on its proposed rule for fees for fiscal year 2026, which begins October 1. The proposal was published in the March 12 Federal Register.

Based on the FY 2026 budget request because a full-year appropriation has not yet been enacted for the fiscal year, the proposed request is $971.5 million, an increase of $27.4 million from FY 2025.

MARVEL, the Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation project at Idaho National Laboratory, has had its preliminary documented safety analysis approved by the Department of Energy, marking a milestone in its development and serving as a potential outline for other microreactors in development.

Yasir Arafat, president and chief technology officer of Aalo Atomics, participated in the first day of sessions at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual Regulatory Information Conference (RIC). There, he recapped some of the company’s recent milestones and revealed new details on what lies ahead for Aalo.

His attendance at the event coincided with a number of announcements in the past two weeks. Those announcements covered new contracts with Global Nuclear Fuel and Baker Hughes, the release of a new strategic roadmap, the completion of fuel enrichment by Urenco USA, and a new approval from the Department of Energy.

In 1990, 30 percent of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear power plants. In 2026, it is closer to 15 percent.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lamented the decline of nuclear energy, calling it a “strategic mistake” when Europe turned its back on a “reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power.”

Jake Jurewicz

Nuclear technology is mature. It provides firm power at scale with minimal externalities and has done so for decades. The core problem isn’t about the technology—it is how the plants are built. Nuclear construction has a well-documented history of cost and schedule overruns. Previous nuclear plants often spent more than twice what was first budgeted, making nuclear among the power technologies with the largest average cost overruns worldwide.

Recent projects illustrate how severe the problem can be. In South Carolina, the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion saw projected costs rise from roughly $10 billion to more than $25 billion before the project was abandoned in 2017, by which time more than $9 billion had already been spent and customers were stuck paying for a site they have yet to benefit from.

The Department of Energy is bringing the HB Line facility at the Savannah River Site back on line to recycle surplus plutonium and produce uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for advanced reactors.

Restarting the facility will be a multiyear process and will yield opportunities for increased domestic production of isotopes with scientific and commercial value. The DOE said that once operational, the HB Line will accelerate the Office of Environmental Management’s plutonium disposition mission by 10 to 13 years while reducing the existing cost.

The American Bureau of Shipping has joined a joint development project with the HD Hyundai divisions of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) and HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HD HSHI) to advance the conceptual design and assess the technical feasibility of a nuclear-powered electric propulsion system for large container ships.

The project, “Conceptual Design of a Nuclear-Powered Electric Propulsion System,” will focus on developing the basic design, electrical component specifications, and arrangement plans of a nuclear propulsion system for a 16,000-TEU ship (that is, a massive vessel designed to carry 16,000 20-foot-equivalent units). It would be the first nuclear-powered commercial container vessel.

Where do Japan and its nuclear energy ambitions stand 15 years after the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake of March 11, 2011, a destructive tsunami, and an accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant ground them to a halt?

A look at developments within the last year involving Japan’s political leadership, international relations, its fleet of nuclear plants, and the ongoing cleanup and decommissioning at Fukushima shows an island country pushing nuclear to the forefront of its energy plans.

Argonne National Laboratory, located in Lemont, Ill., outside of Chicago, continues to develop a U.S. Department of Energy Packaging University Summer Institute by leveraging the laboratory’s educational resources and workforce development opportunities that support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The institute will be open to both professionals in the nuclear packaging field and highly qualified graduate university students who are recommended by their advisors.

Even a last-minute cancelation from Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright could not derail the optimism permeating day 1 of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual Regulatory Information Conference (RIC).

The optimistic theme came up several times during the morning plenary sessions that highlighted Tuesday’s agenda. The NRC commissioners who spoke said the optimism was a result of the “nuclear renaissance” they are encountering that feels different from past nuclear-related revivals that didn’t materialize.

Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright joined U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) at the site of the closed Indian Point nuclear power plant on Friday, March 6, as Lawler called for the reopening of the facility. He emphasized that the shutdown of the plant in 2021 has led to higher electricity costs for the people of New York state and increased strain on the state’s electric grid.

The Wilmington Area Local Section of the American Nuclear Society has officially been selected as the national host for Nuclear Science Week 2026. During the week of October 19–23, educators, students, civic leaders, employers, and members of the Wilmington, N.C., community will gather to learn more about the nuclear world.

Allison Macfarlane

Lake Barrett

In these challenging times of ever-increasing political polarization and strong differing personal opinions, there is hope that diverse points of view can converge to create solutions for difficult problems if we remain focused on the common good.

For us, the common interest is a solution for the broken U.S. program to dispose of the growing inventory of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from commercial nuclear energy. We strongly believe this is critical to support and enable our projected continuation and expansion of safe, reliable, clean, affordable nuclear power to support the needs of our rapidly evolving national and global societies.