Trump signs executive order to boost US nuclear power by 300% in next 25 years; critics call it 'guillotine' to safety

US President Donald Trump on Friday (May 23) signed executive orders that seek to increase America's production of nuclear power by 300 per cent in the next 25 years.

Surrounded by industry executives at the Oval Office, Trump, while signing the executive order, called nuclear a "hot industry" and said that it was "time for nuclear, and we're going to do it very big".

Trump's order, as per an AP report, calls for the Energy and Defence departments to evaluate the feasibility of restarting closed nuclear power plants and explore building reactors on federally owned land, including military bases.

'Overregulated industry'

Lauding the order, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who chairs Trump's newly formed Energy Dominance Council, said: "Mark this day on your calendar. This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of an industry".

What's changing in US's nuclear production?

To speed up the development of nuclear power in the US, Trump's executive order grants the US energy secretary the authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects. To do this, it took away the authority from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent safety agency that has regulated the US nuclear industry for 50 years.

Targeting "overregulation", the order would reorganise the NRC to ensure quicker reviews of nuclear projects; it sets an 18-month deadline for the safety agency to act on industry applications. Reorganising NRC would include significant staffing reductions, but it does not intend to fire the commissioners who lead the agency.

It also creates a pilot programme with a 13-month deadline—until 4 July 2026—to bring three new experimental reactors online.

Furthermore, Trump's executive order invokes the Defence Production Act to allow for emergency measures to ensure that the US has enough uranium and other reactor fuel for the modernised nuclear energy sector.

Critics voice concerns

Voicing their trepidations, critics warn that the order could compromise safety and potentially violate legal frameworks like the Atomic Energy Act.

Slamming the order, Gregory Jaczko, who led the NRC under President Barack Obama, labelled the executive orders a "guillotine to the nation’s nuclear safety system" and said that they look like someone asked an AI chatbot, “How do we make the nuclear industry worse in this country?”