Among President Donald Trump’s four May executive actions seeking to “reinvigorate” the United States’ nuclear energy industry was one “ordering the reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” the president-appointed but independent five-seat regulatory board that oversees safety in nuclear energy development.
The president took a step in reforming the commission, led by Democrats 3–2, on June 13 when he fired Christopher Hanson, a Democrat he appointed in 2020 and who served as commission chair under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025, without any public announcement or accompanying statement regarding the reason.
