Executive orders advancing nuclear energy are an opportunity to drive American innovation and bolster national security. Regulatory reforms that enable “pathfinding” pilot projects and sustain a smart, creative staff will help bring this “new dawn.”

Last Friday, an NPR exclusive warned that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal watchdog for nuclear and radioactive materials safety, would be more strongly controlled by the White House in the near future.

The two executive orders breathlessly previewed were:

* a final order saying rules needed to be reviewed by the White House before issuance

* a draft order calling for reduced staffing, a “wholesale revision” of regulations, shorter review times, and loosened standards for radiation protection

A New York Times article then added context with what Axios had scooped earlier in the week—more orders are in the works to speed up nuclear deployment. These include military investment to speed reactors, designating data centers as critical infrastructure, and rebuilding fuel supply chains.

We are supposed to be shocked (shocked!) by these executive actions.

I’m a little nervous about the near-term success of the NRC, but I’m not shocked, and I’m not scared for the long term. I’m actually more than a little excited overall.

What should go right?

There’s a lot we can expect to come out of these actions and the wider energy-focused climate—swifter processes, motivated players, exciting pilot projects, and the power we need to elevate us all.

Right-Sized Standards, Faster

The regulatory reform aspects of executive actions are in line with what the nuclear industry has asked for and the ADVANCE Act demanded, though their methods and scope are somewhat different. The NRC is already responding to an April 9 order on sunsetting certain regulations, and the new draft order on a wholesale review of regulations may go further. Depending on the language, this could help with rapidly slashing requirements that are outdated and unnecessary. (As you’ll see below, there are plenty of process roadblocks that could be removed.)

The coverage of the draft order also hints at changes to the “linear no-threshold” radiation protection standard. Even if the status quo is a logical policy construct, the current limits may be lower than necessary. I’m up for new ideas on how to do this quickly and transparently. One of the strongest arguments to NOT do this a few years ago was that it’d take a lot of effort, and time was better spent elsewhere. (See the staff’s recommendation, endorsed by the Commission in 2021.)

Excitement and Creativity

It is a great time to be in nuclear, whether you’re at the regulator, a utility, a designer, or a service provider (like I now am). Positive coverage of your field is energizing (pun intended). For so many years, a nuclear regulator got to be a boring bureaucrat, the minder of a dying industry, or a defender of a technology distasteful to the public (but without being able to seem promotional). Now nuclear is cool. Startups and VCs and tech companies are in the mix. There are podcasts and YouTube channels and news stories every day.

I expect this to attract students and professionals to the field, including to the regulator. Here’s my pitch—the NRC is a wonderful place where you can directly enable safe technologies and grow in a varied career. They’re the “gold standard” of nuclear safety, approving designs that enable American innovation to dominate, overseeing the safe construction of the first new plants in 30 years, and showing tremendous creativity to flex processes to what new designs need.

Drive to Improve

That was the whole point of the NRC-facing aspects of the ADVANCE Act, passed with tremendous bipartisan support last July and a major focus of the NRC ever since. What they’re doing can be found live here.

The proof of the pudding is in the taste, and it’s still setting in the fridge. I am looking forward to the major actions completed post-ADVANCE—like the Terrapower construction permit, multiple 80-year license renewals, power uprates that could put 3 GW more on the grid with no new plants needed, and more.

Energy Abundance

Safe nuclear energy has tremendous promise in the US and worldwide. One fuel pellet is the equivalent of a ton of coal or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Nuclear provides resilient, always-on power for critical needs. It’s already out there, quietly providing about 20% of the US electric grid (comparable to all renewables put together), and can easily be expanded. It also has an outstanding safety record, both for workers and the public, thanks to careful regulation and an industry that really means it when they say “safety first.”

Public-private partnerships, rapidly followed by public investment once costs and schedules are more certain, will make a new dawn of nuclear possible. Anything these orders do that helps that without distraction or disruption is a good thing.

What could go wrong?

Those distractions and disruptions can take many forms, from poorly executed processes to demotivated or departing staff, to a lack of focus. Leaders need to actively avoid these or the dawn is going to be awfully cloudy.

Generic Actions that Go Nowhere

Government procedure means good ideas can die on the vine or miss their moment. A great plan has to be agreed upon by multiple layers of management. If it needs guidance to be implemented predictably, then federal processes under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Congressional Review Act, and the new executive orders will require more administration reviewers and more time. If something needs a rule change or a policy decision, the entire Commission has to prioritize its review and a majority of the Commission has to agree, and then the same guidance procedures also apply. This glacial pace is not suited to innovation. (Let’s not forget that the last reform plans produced this retrospective review that went nowhere and this rule to remove pointless reporting requirements that’s still on the Commission’s desk.)

This may not actually be a risk if we can be creative. Pilot projects are one of the best ways to get new ideas through the NRC. The NRC licensed many reactors before there were prescriptive regulations, then used what they learned to develop the 10 CFR we know today. They have a flexible process for licensing emerging medical technologies using guidance that can eventually be pulled into regulations when needed. Novel designs like the SHINE facility or the Kairos test reactor were made possible by innovative approaches, using exemptions where the generic requirements weren’t necessary. We should keep that spirit alive and leverage “sandboxes” where the NRC and its applicants can co-create (in the public view).

Insufficient Staff

This is what I am most nervous about. Various pressures are causing people to leave the NRC right now—especially the innovative, high-performing ones who may be fielding enticing offers from a blossoming industry and the experienced ones who can retire any day. (Many are in both categories!) Who will be left to think deeply about how much regulation is really enough, slice through red tape without losing public confidence, and grind out the huge volume of work that is coming?

At a recent NRC Commission meeting on the ADVANCE Act, the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Chief Nuclear Officer said “we need to be mindful that the NRC be staffed adequately and with the right resources, and we'll continue to advocate to make sure because, you know, we'd like to have power uprates happen, we'd like to have plant license renewals happen, and if there aren't staff sufficient here to do that, that's going to be a problem for the industry as well.” When the industry is saying they need a regulator, we should listen.

Distractions, Not Decisions

It’s a convenient time to point fingers at the NRC. Even the best-intended reform suggestion, though, brings more work to an already busy agency with a weighty mission. Every letter needing a response needs an expert to write a response and many layers of management (sometimes the entire Commission) to review and approve it. Every requested report is time not spent brainstorming with industry or teaching new staff how to think like a creative regulator. Every moment spent worrying about job security is a moment not reading an application or drafting a license.

I don’t suggest we leave them alone to keep doing business as usual. But I also don’t think they’re interested in more of the same. They’re hungry for new ideas and want to notch some wins. Let’s work together to make that happen—starting by presenting them with great applications. If you’re ready for that, Everstar has some AI to make your job much easier.

Theresa Clark is Everstar‘s Chief Nuclear Officer, accelerating energy deployment with nuclear-worthy AI that builds smart applications faster. She joined Everstar after 21 years as an engineer, policy expert, and senior executive at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Photo credit: U.S. NRC