Four Executive Orders Back Nuclear Power Development

If there was any doubt in your mind that nuclear power is truly favored under the current administration, this past week should have erased it.

On Friday, President Trump signed four executive orders. Each targets a different corner of the nuclear power development process, from funding to licensing to testing to deployment. The biggest goal: a 4x jump in US nuclear capacity by 2050.

“Swift and decisive action is required to jumpstart America’s nuclear energy industrial base and ensure our national and economic security by increasing fuel availability and production, securing civil nuclear supply chains, improving the efficiency with which advanced nuclear reactors are licensed, and preparing our workforce to establish America’s energy dominance and accelerate our path towards a more secure and independent energy future,” according to the order titled “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.”

Marching orders

There’s a lot to get through, but we’ll offer our brief recap of each of the four executive orders.

“Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base” directs the Secretary of Energy and a handful of agencies to evaluate key enabling factors for the nuclear sector, including waste management, regulatory streamlining, and fuel recycling and reprocessing. It calls for more uranium conversion and enrichment efforts, as well as for 5 GW of power uprates and 10 new large nuclear reactors to begin construction by 2030.

“Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission” continues realigning NRC objectives to support growth, a process that began with the ADVANCE Act last year. The executive order calls on DOGE to identify what can be trimmed from licensing processes and take action. It also imposes a hard deadline of 18 months for reviewing new applications.

“Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy” would make it simpler for advanced reactor companies to test their designs at national labs, expediting processes to allow testing within two years of a submitted application and cutting down environmental reviews.

“Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security” would have the DoD build and begin operating a nuclear reactor at a domestic military base or installation by late 2028. It would identify AI data centers at DOE sites to deploy nuclear, and release 20 metric tons of HALEU into a fuel bank for reactors that support that infrastructure.

The bottom line: The four executive orders, as a group, assume that the NRC—and its lengthy and expensive licensing process for new reactors—has been the key barrier for companies looking to deploy advanced nuclear tech in the US. The orders provide new priorities for the agency, as well as ways for companies to bypass or simplify that process.

That’s well and good, and not unsurprising, given the industry’s gripes about licensing timelines and the administration’s focus on cutting government bloat, but cuts to DOE and NRC staff and funding leave that progress in limbo.

Market check: Friday’s signing drew a lot of eyes to the nuclear sector, and nuclear-related stocks—both for reactor companies and uranium mining and refinement companies—have seen a major bump. Over the last five days of trading: