More Can Be Done for American Nuclear

By
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
-
By Cealv @ Adobe Stock

On May 23, President Donald Trump issued four executive orders intended to speed up America’s nuclear renaissance. The orders were titled:

  • Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base
  • Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy
  • Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
  • Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security

After applauding Trump’s progress on breaking the logjams that bedevil nuclear power in America, Christopher Ploch, a former appointee to the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, and Lucian Niemeyer, co-founder of UCAN Power, say there is still more Trump can do. The authors argue for a fifth executive order, writing:

The DOE’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) should enforce this focused principle. EDF recently announced $17.5 billion in commitments to finance long-lead nuclear supply chain components for large-scale reactors—precisely the type of targeted financing the nation needs. But EDF’s nuclear priority shouldn’t stop with these legacy reactors. America must deploy fleets of new reactor designs across a range of sizes—the supply chain must be prepared before construction starts.

EDF should pick winners in the broader nuclear ecosystem, including fuel fabrication, conversion and enrichment, used nuclear fuel recycling, manufacturing, transportation infrastructure, and other deployment-critical components.

EDF leadership is critical, but it cannot carry the full weight of American nuclear deployment. A fifth executive order should direct agencies to use every available authority—not only financing—to prioritize nuclear supply chains, project development, permitting, procurement, transportation, workforce readiness, and other pathways that place more reactors onto the commercial grid.

The authors also believe a fifth executive order on nuclear power should “require federal agencies to measure the success of nuclear energy workforce efforts directed in previous executive orders,” and “establish a Critical Isotopes List to prioritize federal support, procurement tools, financing programs, and funding opportunities around the isotopes most important to the nation.”

The authors conclude:

Now is the moment for a fifth nuclear executive order—one that converts renewed momentum into deployment at speed and restores the United States as the world’s leading nuclear energy nation.

Action Line: America needs more energy generation to feed not only the buildout of artificial intelligence data centers, but to supply reliable, inexpensive power for generations to come. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.

Read more about the nuclear renaissance here:

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