President Donald Trump said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week he wants to get nuclear power plant approval time down to three weeks.
When contacted by Exchange Monitor Thursday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said in a statement it is trying to shorten its license review periods.
“NRC is currently engaged in rulemaking to effectuate Executive Order 14300 which directs the NRC to undertake rulemaking to establish an expedited licensing process for various types of new reactors, including small modular and micro reactors,” NRC said.
“NRC remains committed to meeting the goals of the Executive Order and the Administration to accelerate the deployment of safe civilian nuclear energy to promote and maintain American energy dominance and national security,” NRC added.
At the Wednesday forum, Trump spoke on an array of topics, including energy and nuclear power. The president reiterated that he and his administration are all-in on nuclear energy, with a key focus on using the energy source to power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
For AI data centers alone, Trump said that the United States would have to double its energy capacity to meet those needs. The Trump administration wants nuclear power to help meet the demand growth.
“I’ve signed an order directing and approving of many new nuclear reactors. We’re going heavy into nuclear,” Trump said. “I was not a big fan, because I didn’t like the risk, the danger, but what the progress they’ve made with nuclear [power] is unbelievable, and the safety progress they’ve made is incredible.”
China’s large investment into various energy sources, including nuclear, to power AI data centers has Trump pushing to build power plants rapidly.
“President XI respects what we’ve done, in part because they’ve allowed these big companies building these massive buildings to build their own electric capacity,” Trump said. “They are building their own power plants, which when added up, is more than any country anywhere in the world is doing. But we’re creating as much or more, and we’re letting them do that. I’m very proud of it. It was my idea.”
In addition to wanting data center developers to fund and build their own power plants, Trump said those operations should have their license approvals within a matter of weeks.
That would be far quicker than what the Trump administration talked about less than a year ago.
The idea of approving new reactor licenses in potentially three weeks did not sit well with Beyond Nuclear’s spokesperson Kevin Kamps. He said “rushing nuclear regulatory approvals invites radioactive catastrophe,” according to a Friday emailed statement to the Monitor.
“NRC is in regulatory free fall, without a parachute, under direct Executive Orders from Trump,” Kamps said. “Safety, security, health and environmental protection are all being significantly undermined and gutted by the Trump administration.”
In the executive order Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Trump ordered the NRC to draft a revision of its regulations and guidance documents within nine months. The ultimate goal, under the order, would be to reduce the nuclear plant review process to within 18 months.
“Deadlines should include: a deadline of no more than 18 months for final decision on an application to construct and operate a new reactor of any type, commencing with the first required step in the regulatory process,” according to the order.
NRC is currently working on the wholesale revision of its regulations and a handful of draft rulemakings are expected to come out in the coming months.
Many of the efforts of the executive order reiterates values from the ADVANCE Act of 2024. The bipartisan legislation sought to smooth out NRC’s framework for reactor license applications.