The latest nuclear energy-related Executive Orders aim to accelerate the development of new nuclear reactor technologies and projects in the United States, enhance national uranium mining, incentivize private investment in the nuclear energy sector and facilitate American nuclear export. In parallel, the House of Representatives' budget bill limits availability of most non-nuclear tax credits.
Nuclear Executive Orders
On May 23, 2025, President Trump issued four Executive Orders, entitled "Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base", "Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy", "Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission", and "Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security", which intend to broadly expand and support the production and use of nuclear energy with the goal of reestablishing the United States as a global leader in the sector. The Executive Orders mandate multiple governmental agencies to identify the current state of nuclear fuel, waste disposal and uranium conversion capacity, and recommend policies to improve these capabilities, reduce regulation where possible, and provide for government funding of nuclear projects and their related supply chains. The Executive Orders also mandate the acceleration of the licensing approval process for new nuclear reactors and the creation of a pilot program for reactor construction and operation.
These Executive Orders demonstrate the importance the current administration places on nuclear energy, which is considered crucial to support energy intensive industries, particularly data centers for artificial intelligence. According to the International Energy Agency, "China and the United States are the most significant regions for data center electricity consumption growth, accounting for nearly 80% of global growth to 2030, with a consumption increase of around 240 TWh (up 130%) compared to the 2024 level".1
Adapting the legal and regulatory framework to accelerate the development and deployment of nuclear technologies and increase the use of nuclear power in the energy mix has become a national priority in the United States.
Strengthening and Financing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
As nuclear has made a dramatic comeback these last few years after decades of disinterest, the nuclear sector needs to rebuild not only its supply chain but also its workforce. These last few years have seen a resurgence of innovation through the development of numerous new reactors by historic nuclear vendors (i.e. Westinghouse and GE-Hitachi), national laboratories (i.e. Idaho and Oak Ridge) and start-ups (i.e. Holtec, NuScale, Last Energy and X-Energy). According to the International Atomic Energy Agency ("IAEA"), over 20 small modular reactor ("SMR") designs are currently under development in the U.S., and around 15 SMR start-ups have been established—highlighting the vibrant innovation driving the American nuclear sector.
The "Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base" Executive Order includes provisions that strengthen educational pathways in the industry and increases potential funding of nuclear projects. The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Energy, through the Loan Programs Office of the Department of Energy ("DOE"), to prioritize making available resources for restarting closed nuclear power plants, increase power output of operating nuclear power plants, complete construction of nuclear reactors that were prematurely suspended, construct new advanced SMRs, and improve the nuclear fuel supply chain. By the end of this year, the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration must prioritize funding for qualified advanced nuclear reactor technologies through grants, loans, investment capital, funding opportunities, and other available support. In this respect, the DOE is also instructed to prioritize 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. One of the latest initiatives to fund the nuclear sector has been the DOE's Generation III+ SMR program2, which is intended to fund up to US$ 900 million for the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors by scaling the production and deployment of reactors to stimulate nuclear industry.
The Executive Order further directs the Secretary of Energy, jointly with other agency heads, to issue a report by January 18, 2026, with recommendations regarding:
- the management of nuclear fuel and high-level waste and the development and deployment of fuel cycle capabilities (since the termination of the project to locate a deep geological repository ("DGR") in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, there has been no other project regarding the final disposal of high-level waste in the U.S. Worldwide, there is currently one finalized DGR in Finland, and two under construction in France and Sweden);
- the reprocessing and recycling of nuclear fuel, including the efficient use and disposal of uranium and other products recovered through such processes. The U.S. does not reprocess nor recycle its nuclear fuel. While several European countries (including France and the United Kingdom), Russia, China and Japan have policies to reprocess used fuel, only a few countries actually have a reprocessing capacity currently (i.e. France, India, Russia and the United Kingdom);
- plans for decommissioning existing nuclear reactors, to make the process more efficient;
- the methods and technologies to transport used and unused advanced nuclear fuels and advanced nuclear reactors, domestically and overseas. Without the necessary transportation capacity to support an increase of nuclear material transportation around the world, including the carriage of sealed micro-reactors containing nuclear fuel, it will be difficult to operate national and international nuclear projects.
In addition, the Secretary of Energy, jointly with other agency heads and the Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC"), is directed to develop, by September 20, 2025, a plan to expand domestic uranium conversion capacity and enrichment capabilities to meet both civilian and defense reactor needs. This aims to complement the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act of 2024, which is currently implemented with a number of waivers that may be applied for until January 1, 2028.3
Facilitating National and International Deployment of U.S. Nuclear Reactors
The Executive Orders on "Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy" and "Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security" emphasize the importance of civilian nuclear power and the national security importance of reliable nuclear energy. These Executive Orders seek to strengthen the nuclear reactor infrastructure and increase nuclear exports. They add to the framework established by the International Nuclear Energy Act ("INEA") and the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act ("ADVANCE Act"), both of 2023.
The Executive Orders on "Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy" and "Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security" both task the Secretary of Energy, jointly with other agency heads, to determine before the fall 2025:
- a regulatory and procedural infrastructure that expedites the review, approval, and deployment of qualifying advanced test reactors to operate at DOE owned or controlled facilities within 2 years following a substantially complete application.
- eliminate or expedite environmental reviews, including determining which DOE functions are not subject to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ("NEPA"), creating categorical exclusions as appropriate for reactors within certain parameters (or relying on existing categorical exclusions), and relying on supplemental analyses where reactors will be located on existing sites.
- a pilot program for reactor construction and operation outside of National Laboratories, with at least three being approved and achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
- determine a strategy that optimizes the financial support that the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Export-Import Bank and other relevant agencies may provide to projects of national strategic interest developed by recently graduated high income economies utilizing U.S. civil nuclear technology.
The Secretary of State is also directed to pursue at least 20 Agreements for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation (or ‘123 Agreements') by the close of the 120th Congress (January 3, 2029) to enable the U.S. nuclear industry to access new markets in partner countries and fully leverage the resources of the Federal Government to promote the United States nuclear industry in the development of commercial civil nuclear projects globally. The United States has entered into 25 ‘123 Agreements' covering 49 countries and Taiwan to date.
The Secretaries of Energy and State must now, subject to consultation with the NRC, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Defense, approve or deny technology transfer export authorization requests within 30 days of receipt of a complete application and completion by the DOE of the required accompanying analysis, excluding any time period waiting for (i) concurrence from the Department of State; and (ii) retransfer and nonproliferation assurances to be received from the government of the country where the export is proposed to be sent.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reform
The NRC was already directed by the 2019 Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act ("NEIMA") and the ADVANCE Act to streamline the process and lower costs for licensing of advanced nuclear reactors by for example reducing the licensing fees for advanced SMRs, eliminating the costs for pre-application activities and early site permits at the DOE sites or other locations implicating national security, and initiating rulemaking to support the development of small modular reactors on brownfield sites such as retired coal-fired power facilities.
The Executive Order on "Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission" intends to ensure that the NRC commits to the following along with other related objectives:
- to consider the benefits of increased availability of and innovation in nuclear power to national security and economic interests when carrying out licensing and related regulatory functions.
- to increase new reactor licensing.
- to undertake a review and revision of regulations and guidance documents in order to establish fixed deadlines in its evaluation and approval procedures and ensuring that its conclusions regarding the licensing process are delivered within 18 months, instead of following its nonbinding "generic milestone schedules" guidelines.
- establish an expedited pathway to approve reactor designs that the Department of Defense or the DOE have tested and that have demonstrated the ability to function safely, by aiming to focus solely on risks that may arise from new applications permitted by the NRC licensing, rather than revisiting risks that have already been addressed by the other departments' processes.
The "Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission" Executive Order is the second one to be issued by the current administration. The "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" Executive Order, issued on February 18, 2025 requires that any significant regulatory actions taken by independent regulatory agencies, including the NRC, be subject to the White House oversight. This Executive Order allows the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to set performance standards and management objectives to ensure consistency with the President's policies and priorities, while also allowing for adjustments in agency apportionments where appropriate to aid in advancement of such policies and priorities.
Tax Credits Bill
The Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA") provided for an eight-year production tax credit for qualifying existing nuclear power plants and new technology neutral zero-emission production, as well as investment tax credits for new, advanced nuclear energy facilities.
On May 23, 2025, the House of Representatives passed "The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act" that, unless modified by the Senate, will significantly narrow the availability of several types of tax credits. The bill repeals clean energy, technology neutral electricity generation and storage tax credits provided under the IRA, such as §45Y and §48E credits for projects beginning construction 60 days after enactment as law, with projects that begin construction after such date needing to be placed in service by December 31, 2028, to receive the tax credits.
However, the bill provides beneficial treatment to nuclear project §45U (zero-emission nuclear power production) tax credit provided under the IRA by extending the credit at its full value and with full transferability through to 2031. Notably, the §48C (clean energy manufacturing and recycling, industrial decarbonization, and critical mineral projects) tax credit that was originally established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and renewed and expanded under the IRA, remains unchanged by the bill. The effect of the bill on tax credits is the subject of an extensive review published by White & Case here.
1 Energy and AI – Analysis - IEA
2 Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor Program | Department of Energy
3 Securing energy independence: The US path to resilient enriched uranium supply chain - Atlantic Council
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