Policy

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which currently has three serving commissioners and—according to recent media reports—a detailee from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is accelerating licensing timelines to meet the requirements of President Trump’s May 23 Executive Order 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” and the ADVANCE Act. On top of that, the agency is preparing for an anticipated rush of applications while dealing with a reduced workforce.

With the signing of a memorandum of understanding between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, a nuclear future for Malaysia is back on the table.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced it has amended regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2025.

Hanson

Since the president's inauguration in January, the Trump administration has been on course to make big changes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to realize its goals of deregulation, energy dominance, and deployment of advanced reactors. Given the executive orders (EOs) and the work that the Department of Government Efficiency has done in cutting the federal workforce, it was a surprise that NRC commissioner Christopher Hanson was dismissed on Friday, according to a statement Hanson posted on his LinkedIn profile early Monday.

Hanson said in the post that President Trump terminated his position “without cause, contrary to existing law and long-standing precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointments.”

Washington, D.C. — The American Nuclear Society (ANS) issued the following statement:

"A competent, effective, and fully staffed U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is essential to the rapid deployment of new reactors and advanced technologies. The arbitrary removal of commissioners without due cause creates regulatory uncertainty that threatens to delay America’s nuclear energy expansion."

The World Bank has reversed its longtime policy on nuclear power plants, deciding at its June 10 board meeting that it would begin funding new nuclear energy projects around the world. The multinational lending organization also decided that it would consider funding for life extensions of existing nuclear reactors. These policy changes were explained by World Bank President Ajay Banga in an email to organization employees.

Fedorchak

North Dakota’s sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican freshman Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak, has introduced the Baseload Reliability Protection Act.

The bill aims to “amend the Federal Power Act to prohibit retirements of baseload electric generating units in any area that is served by a Regional Transmission Organization or an Independent System Operator and that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation [NERC] categorizes as at elevated risk or high risk of electricity supply shortfalls, and for other purposes.”

A summary of the legislation is available on Fedorchak’s House website.

Amendments: The Baseload Reliability Protection Act would amend the Federal Power Act in the following ways:

In the weeks since President Donald Trump issued four nuclear energy–-focused executive orders (EOs), stakeholders across the nuclear industry weighed in on the plans and details. The American Nuclear Society convened an expert advisory group to study the directives and provide constructive input for the pending implementation.

On May 23, President Donald Trump signed four Executive Orders (EOs) designed to “usher in a nuclear energy renaissance” by building on federal policies and programs and directing efficiencies in the licensing, siting, development, and deployment of advanced reactor technologies.

In order to evaluate the specific proposals contained in the EOs, a group of experts was convened from various sectors of the U.S. nuclear technology enterprise, under the auspices of the ANS External Affairs Committee, to compare the EOs against existing ANS board-approved Position Statements and to offer constructive input for subsequent implementation by the Trump administration.

The group’s findings and feedback, which were delivered by ANS CEO Craig Piercy to ANS President Lisa Marshall and the Board of Directors, are listed below, grouped by individual EO.

A group of nine former commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a letter Wednesday to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, lending their support to efforts to remove mandatory hearings from the reactor licensing process. The move could speed up the new reactor licensing process by about three to six months and save millions of dollars.

Applications for the American Nuclear Society’s Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship are due June 6. ANS will be sponsoring two Fellows for the 2026 term, both of whom will be selected in July and will each receive a stipend of $95,000. The term of the fellowship will run from January to December 2026.

ANS encourages interested members to apply. Application instructions can be found here.

The Trump administration issued four executive orders on Friday aimed at boosting domestic nuclear deployment ahead of significant growth in projected energy demand in the coming decades. These orders aim to reclaim leadership in nuclear technology crucial for national security and competitive AI advancements.

The U.S. House of Representatives pulled an all-nighter this week to narrowly pass (by a vote of 215–214) a revised budget plan Thursday morning and send it to the Senate for a reconciliation vote of its own.

Nuclear advocates have been monitoring the latest language regarding tax credits that have been in place since 2021 to help drive deployment. Earlier versions of the bill called for phasing out the nuclear credits.

Wright

Energy Secretary Chris Wright testified before the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Water Development Subcommittee yesterday to discuss how the Department of Energy would be impacted by the president’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.

The meeting highlighted concerns from lawmakers about the DOE’s spending and efficiency—pointing to the rise in the department’s budget from $61 billion in FY 2021 to $160 billion last year.

Committee chair John Kennedy (R., La.) called the DOE spending pattern “unsustainable.”

“The average electricity bill . . . for the average American family over the past four years is up 28 percent. That’s the first thing they care about,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got to address it . . . and talk very specifically about what programs are working and what isn’t.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is discontinuing its rulemaking activity, “Long-Term and Unattended Water Makeup of Spent Fuel Pools,” and denying a petition for rulemaking. The new rule, as requested by the petitioner, would have required nuclear power plant licensees to ensure that their spent nuclear fuel pools are capable of cooling and maintaining water levels during extended power outages.

The State of Texas has not one but two ongoing federal court challenges to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that could, if successful, turn decades of NRC regulations, precedent, and case law on its head.

Spirits were high last month when a ribbon cutting was held at the University of Missouri for a $20 million, three-story, 47,000-square-foot addition, dubbed MURR West, to the MURR research reactor facilities.

The American Nuclear Society’s Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship application process is open, and ANS strongly encourages interested members to apply.

ANS Congressional Fellows can directly contribute to the federal policymaking process, working in either a U.S. senator’s or representative’s personal office or with a congressional committee. They are responsible for supplying Congress with their expertise in nuclear science and technology, having a hand in the creation of new laws while gaining a deeper understanding of the legislative process.

President Donald Trump released his discretionary budget request Friday, stirring up questions from nuclear advocates about how the federal funding earmarked for domestic energy would fare.

Gov. Katie Hobbs put the brakes on legislation that would have eliminated some of Arizona’s regulations and oversight of small modular reactors, technology that is largely under consideration by data centers and heavy industrial power users.