Thursday, 29 May 2025
The three nuclear-focused executive orders were entitled Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base, Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy and Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the goal of “re-establishing the United States as the global leader in nuclear energy”.
The aim is to increase US nuclear energy capacity from 100 GW to 400 GW by 2050, including the Department of Energy (DOE) prioritising work “with the nuclear energy industry to facilitate 5 gigawatt of power uprates to existing nuclear reactors and have 10 new large reactors with complete designs under construction by 2030”.
As well as the president, the announcement also featured contributions from Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who is also Chairman of the National Energy Dominance Council, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy, Maria Korsnick, CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, Jacob DeWitte, founder and CEO of Oklo, and Scott Nolan of uranium enrichment company General Matter.
World Nuclear News’s Claire Maden picks out some of the key points and the reaction to the announcement and Jonathan Cobb, World Nuclear Association senior programme lead, climate, considers the broader implications of the USA adopting a goal to quadruple nuclear energy capacity.
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Episode credit: Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production
