By Jarrett Renshaw
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the nation’s independent nuclear regulatory commission to cut down on regulations and fast-track new licenses for reactors and power plants on Friday, seeking to shrink a multi-year process down to 18 months.
The requirement was part of a batch of executive orders signed by Trump on Friday that aim to boost U.S. nuclear energy production amid a boom in demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.
Licensing for reactors in the U.S. can take over a decade at times, a process designed to prioritize nuclear safety but which has discouraged new projects.
“This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of an industry,” U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who heads the White House Energy Dominance Council, said in the Oval Office.
The moves include a substantial overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that includes looking at staffing levels and directing the Energy and Defense departments to work together to build nuclear plants on federal lands, a senior White House official said. The administration envisions the Department of Defense taking a prominent role in ordering reactors and installing them on military bases.
The orders also seek to reinvigorate uranium production and enrichment in the United States, the senior White House official said.
Constellation Energy Group CEO Joseph Dominguez said the president’s actions would help normalize the regulatory process.
“We’re wasting too much time on permitting, and we’re answering silly questions, not the important ones,” Dominguez said during the signing event.
Trump declared a national energy emergency in January as one of his first acts in office, saying the U.S. had inadequate supplies of electricity to meet the country’s growing needs, particularly for data centers that run artificial intelligence systems.
Most of Trump’s actions have focused on boosting fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, but administration officials also support nuclear power, which in recent years has attracted growing bipartisan support.
Some Democrats endorse nuclear because the plants do not emit planet-warming greenhouse gases, even as environmentalists have raised concerns about radioactive waste and reactor safety.
Republicans, who are less concerned about global warming, support it because they say nuclear power plants could strengthen U.S. energy security.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw in Washington; Editing by Nia Williams)
