WASHINGTON, D.C – The Donald Trump administration’s nuclear-related executive orders can open up the international nuclear market through a bolstered domestic nuclear supply, a panel said at a summit Tuesday.
A panel of executives from BWX Technologies, NuScale Power, Terrestrial Energy, Urenco USA and Westinghouse spoke on the elements for global success in the nuclear industry at Tuesday’s U.S. Nuclear Industry Council summit held in Washington, D.C.
On May 23, the Trump administration released a handful of executive orders to speed up new reactor licensing and construction and generally bolster the nuclear industry’s industrial base in the United States. BWXT senior director of government relations Scott Kopple called the four executive actions “encouraging” to move the multiple aspects of the nuclear sector, such as high-assay low-enriched uranium production, forward.
Kopple did caution that how the orders get carried out remains to be seen.
Westinghouse government and international affairs vice president Katie Strangis said the orders were a positive signal to get the nuclear industry going.
When previously working with 123 Agreements negotiation teams on peaceful nuclear cooperation, Strangis said foreign partners would often question why the United States did not have a small modular reactor deployed yet. The executive actions could help address SMRs and other deployment, depending on its implementation, Strangis said.
“I think it will go very far to have one operating [in the U.S.],” Strangis said.
Speaking on first-of-a-kind technology (FOAK), NuScale Power business development vice president Chuck Goodnight added that FOAK domestic deployment gives international partners more clarity in investing in U.S. nuclear technology.
“So, they [international partners] say, ‘look you have to have one we’re going to use as a reference plant to be either number two or so on’,” Goodnight said. “Katie’s [Strangis] right, we have to be here in the U.S. first to really make it work.”
The U.S. government through the Advance Act of 2024 and the recently proposed International Nuclear Energy Act has additionally signaled continued bipartisan support for nuclear energy, Urenco USA director of government affairs Mary Neumayr added.
While the doors could open for nuclear deployment in the U.S. with the orders, there are still hurdles to jump on an international level, the panelists said.
Challenges such as regulatory standards, governmental policies or financing could plague international nuclear deployment, Goodnight said.
