Orano USA announced on April 22 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) outlining their cooperative relationship to support the construction of Project Ike, Orano’s planned $5 billion centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

All five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission provided insight into the agency’s priorities, activities, and its proposed $892.3 million budget for fiscal year 2027 when they testified before the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce’s Energy subcommittee on Wednesday.

The French Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR) has published a decision on how it will be regulating ITER, opting to approve the organization’s request to exclude its vacuum vessel from French and European pressure equipment rules.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with its plans to reorganize around three core business lines: new reactors, operating reactors, and nuclear materials and waste. In order to do that, the agency will establish two new offices: the Office of Advanced Reactors (OAR) and the Office of the Chief Nuclear Reactor Inspector (CNRI).

The American Nuclear Society’s 2026 Annual Conference is coming up fast. From May 31 to June 3, leaders from across the nuclear industry will gather in Denver, Colo., to discuss the state of the industry and emerging opportunities.

To register for the conference, make hotel reservations, and explore the full program, visit ans.org/meetings/ac2026/.

The communities in and around Duane Arnold had a chance on Tuesday evening to hear from Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials on the progress to restart Iowa’s only nuclear power plant in early 2029.

Licensing, inspections and assessments, the noticing process, and the role of the restart panel were among the topics discussed at the public meeting, which was held in Cedar Rapids, Ia., with an option for virtual attendance.

Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), has introduced a bill that would grant the Department of Energy greater authority over new nuclear projects under the federal agency’s oversight.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation that lifted the state’s de facto moratorium on new nuclear construction projects. (Photo: Office of Governor)

New Jersey has become the latest state to lift a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants, with Gov. Mikie Sherrill signing new legislation Wednesday with the state’s two nuclear power plants serving as the backdrop.

The legislation, S. 3870/A. 4528, allows the commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to approve permits for the construction and operation of new nuclear facilities “based on safe, [Nuclear Regulatory Commission]–compliant waste storage.” Prior to this bill, New Jersey law practically banned such construction, because the state’s Coastal Area Facility Review Act required an approved method from the NRC for radioactive waste disposal that was outdated and could not be met.

The security drills held at commercial nuclear power plants as part of the Force-on-Force (FOF) inspection program will no longer be led by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The commissioners on Friday approved an overhaul of the security program, including phasing out NRC-led drills by 2028. Following the phaseout, drills will be led by the licensee, with the NRC observing.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sunset its aircraft impact assessment rule for 2027, as NRC staff have addressed several of the public comments considered “significant and adverse” that prompted the agency this past winter to temporarily delay the sunsetting move.

The final rule, which was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, addressed some of the more contentious concerns raised by the public. It sets a conditional sunset date of April 8, 2027, “unless the NRC determines that the cessation deadline should be extended to a date not more than 5 years in the future after offering the public an opportunity to provide input on the costs and benefits of this section and considering that input.”

The White House is requesting $1.5 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, about 9 percent less than the previous year.

The request from the Trump administration is one of several associated with nuclear energy in the proposal, which was released Friday. Congress still must review and vote on the budget.

Yesterday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it has received an application from Westinghouse to renew and update the design certification (DC) for its AP1000 reactor. This application seeks to formally incorporate the lessons learned from the construction of Vogtle-3 and -4 into the design control document (DCD) of the AP1000.

This long-expected submittal builds on previous plans at both the NRC and Westinghouse for the future of gigawatt-scale light water reactor deployments in the United States.

Nuclear reactor designs approved by the Department of Energy or Department of Defense could get streamlined pathways through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s commercial licensing process should applicants wish to push the technology into the civilian sector.

A proposed rule introduced April 2 by the NRC would “improve NRC licensing review efficiency, where applicable, by explicitly establishing by regulation an additional means for reactor applicants to demonstrate the safety functions of their reactor designs, and thus, would contribute to the safe and secure use and deployment of civilian nuclear energy technologies.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s application to extend the operating licenses for Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant’s two pressurized water reactors by another 20 years.

Thursday’s approval means Diablo Canyon-1 and -2 can now operate until November 2, 2044, and August 26, 2045, respectively, if California lawmakers agree. A 2022 state law requires the California Legislature to approve any extension of operations at Diablo Canyon that goes beyond 2030.

The Department of Energy announced the completion of a proof-of-concept demonstration of the use of Everstar’s AI tool to generate chapter 5 of an NRC license application from preliminary safety documents.

The 208-page document was created by the AI tool in approximately one day. According to the DOE, it would typically take a team of people between four and six weeks to complete this work.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has identified five categories of action to add to its list of categorical exclusions to reduce its documentation work under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures.

These revisions are included in the final rule, “Categorical exclusions from environmental review,” which was published in the Federal Register on March 30. The final rule will become effective on April 29.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a significant overhaul of its Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) baseline inspection program that stresses a leaner, more risk-focused inspection process.

This adoption comes just over a month after NRC officials published their findings on the proposed ROP changes. The changes would reduce the number of hours spent annually on direct inspections at U.S. nuclear power plants by 38 percent.

The U.S. Air Force wants to hear from companies that could be interested in deploying small nuclear reactors at its bases.

The request for information posted Wednesday intends to assist the federal government in identifying potential developers and “understanding the company’s capability to design, license, fuel, construct, and deploy Small, Micro, or Modular Reactor (SMR) technologies in compliance with applicable regulatory, safety, environmental, and security requirements.”

Microsoft and Nvidia have formed an “AI for nuclear” partnership intended to streamline the permitting, design, and operations of nuclear power plant facilities, and highlighted the collaboration at CERAWeek 2026 in Houston earlier this week.

Microsoft said in an announcement that the collaboration will build a “connected, AI-powered foundation” of AI tools that energy developers will be able to use to make work “repeatable, traceable, secure, and predictable,” all the while reducing work timelines and maintaining safety.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finalized its new regulatory framework for advanced reactors that officials believe will accelerate, simplify, and reduce burdens in the new reactor licensing process.

The final rule arrives more than a year ahead of an end-of-2027 deadline set in the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA), the 2019 law that formally directed the NRC to develop a new, technology-inclusive regulatory approach. The resulting rule—10 CFR Part 53, “Risk-Informed, Technology-Inclusive Regulatory Framework for Advanced Reactors”—is commonly referred to as Part 53.