President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to sign executive orders on Friday meant to speed nuclear power reactor licensing through expedited regulatory reviews and other changes.
According to a Thursday report by Reuters, Trump could sign the executive orders “as soon as” Friday. Reuters also reported Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said Trump will sign the nuclear orders then. The president evidently will use the Defense Production Act as the basis for the changes.
As of Friday 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the White House has not announced any signings of the reported nuclear executive orders.
President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a tax bill, was passed in the House in the middle of the night Wednesday into Thursday 215-214 largely on party lines with Republicans Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio) voting against and Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) voting “present.”
The Senate will take up the bill when it returns, and Republican leaders in the House have said they hope to get the bill, which includes nuclear energy provisions, signed into law by July.
Westinghouse has signed memorandums of understanding with seven Bulgarian suppliers that will support the two-unit AP1000 project at the Kozloduy nuclear site in Bulgaria with various products and services.
The MOUs include cranes, electrical and industrial equipment, instrumentation and control equipment, logistics and transportation and piping.
The seven Bulgarian suppliers are Balkansko Echo EOOD, Bon Marine Ltd., Contragent 35 Ltd., El Kontrol EOOD, ELPROM Heavy Industries JSC, Kozloduy Ltd. and Zekalabs Ltd as listed in the Westinghouse’s May 15 press release.
ASP Isotopes and TerraPower have entered into a loan and supply agreements this week which would construct an uranium enrichment facility in South Africa and supply high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).
The uranium enrichment facility planned for Pelindaba, South Africa is scheduled to start its production of HALEU by 2027. The HALEU produced at the facility will be used by TerraPower as a part of its supply agreement.
The two companies are also committed to exploring potential opportunities to develop a uranium enrichment facility in the United States, according to ASP Isotopes’s Monday press release.
NuScale Power announces the opening of its Energy Exploration Center at South Carolina State University this week.
The Energy Exploration center is designed to be an innovative learning environment that offers hands-on experience with nuclear engineering and science and simulates real-world nuclear scenarios.
South Carolina State University, a Historically Black College or University (HBCU), already offers a nuclear engineering program. With its newest center, the university becomes the 10th school globally to have a NuScale Energy Exploration Center.
X-Energy has appointed Jesse Walker as its chief supply chain officer according to a Wednesday press release.
Walker joined X-Energy after a 21-year career at Northrop Grumman where he served in various positions such as vice president of Global Supply Chain and corporate director of Supplier Management.
Walker has a bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master of business administration from Webster University. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, serving in active duty and civil service.
TerraPower has announced the expansion of its executive team this week.
The nuclear technology development company promoted its own Eric Williams to serve as its first vice president and chief operating officer, Steven Hellman is promoted to executive vice president and CFO and Marcia Burkey transitions to a company advisor role.
Williams previously served as the company’s senior vice president and design authority for the Natrium technology. Burkey is retiring next month from her current position as executive vice president and CFO after 12 years. Hellman will succeed her as he comes from the UBS company.
Amentum has appointed Helen Simms as its vice president for international technology and innovation.
Simms will join Amentum from Xodus, a global energy advisory firm, where she served as the chief operating officer and has over 20 years of experience in executive roles. Simms will succeed Greg Willetts, who is retiring after 33 years in the business and served the past 16 years in a senior leadership role.
“She [Simms] will be instrumental in developing, implementing, and delivering solutions to our clients’ complex challenges with the very talented and successful team at the heart of our technology, digital and innovation strategy,” senior vice president of Amentum Energy and Environment International Andy White said in its Thursday press release.
