The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing a rulemaking that would clear a new path to an NRC license for companies that first take their advanced reactor designs to the Department of Energy or Pentagon.
The proposal, scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Thursday, would codify the Trump administration’s effort to expand the roles of DOE and the Department of Defense in testing new reactor designs that could one day serve the U.S. power grid.
With the goal of quadrupling nuclear power by 2050, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders in May 2025. One order instructed the NRC to establish an expedited approval process for new reactors put through safety tests by DOE or DOD.
The White House directed NRC to focus primarily on new safety risks when evaluating reactor designs for a final federal license.
