US Nuclear Regulator Seeks Simpler Environmental Reviews to Boost Nuclear Expansion

A proposed rule would limit reviews to impacts within the NRC’s legal authority and is open for public comment until Aug. 21.

In this aerial view, the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant stands in the middle of the Susquehanna River near Middletown, Pa., on Oct. 10, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on July 8 proposed narrowing environmental reviews for new and renewed nuclear reactor licenses, a move the agency said would reduce costs, as the Trump administration pushes to expand nuclear energy.

The proposal would change how the NRC implements the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), limiting reviews to environmental effects that fall within the agency’s legal authority.

The NRC described the proposal as the “most comprehensive update to its environmental review regulations in decades," adding that it would remove outdated requirements and make the licensing process more efficient.

NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said the proposal, which is open for public comment until Aug. 21, would better align the agency’s environmental reviews with what Congress intended under NEPA.

He told reporters ​that “for many, many, many years NRC did much more than required by law in the National Environmental Policy Act. So this really brings us back to what NEPA demands, nothing more, nothing less.”

Nieh also said that “by concentrating on impacts the NRC can address, we’ll strengthen environmental protection while making licensing reviews more timely and predictable.”

He added that the NRC proposes to limit areas where it does not have authority over effects on the environment, such as the construction of nuclear plants.

“Dust, noise, air impacts, non-radiological water, or non-radiological effects, all of those things are examples of where we’re they’re outside of our regulatory authority, and so we won’t be doing those in the future,” he added.

NRC’s chief environmental review and permitting officer, Kimyata Savoy, said the proposal would save reactor developers and the agency about $135 million in licensing costs for new reactors and license renewals.

Other measures under the proposal include new categorical exclusions, an update of environmental review procedures, and greater flexibility for applicants in providing environmental information.

The proposal follows a series of actions by President Donald Trump aimed at expanding nuclear power in the United States. Trump signed four executive orders on May 23, 2025, directing the NRC to license 10 new reactors by 2030 and supporting a plan to quadruple U.S. nuclear power capacity by 2050.

One of them, Executive Order 14300, directed the NRC to reform its licensing process. The White House said the commission had slowed nuclear development by imposing unnecessary regulatory requirements.

U.S. Energy Information Administration data show that last year, nuclear energy accounted for about 18 percent of U.S. utility-scale electricity generation.

Series of Reforms

The July 8 proposal comes one week after the NRC announced broader changes to reactor licensing and radiation safety regulations.

The agency on July 1 proposed replacing a radiation risk model that has guided U.S. nuclear regulation for about 50 years.

The NRC said the changes would modernize regulations and make it easier to build new reactors without reducing safety standards.

The proposal drew criticism from some nuclear safety experts.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in comments submitted to the NRC in July 2025 that there was “absolutely no technical or practical basis” for changing the agency’s use of the “as low as reasonably achievable” (ALARA) standard.

The cooling towers for units 4 (L) and 3 (R) at Plant Vogtle, operated by Georgia Power Co., in east Georgia's Burke County near Waynesboro, Ga., on May 29, 2024. Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

The regulatory changes also coincide with progress in the administration’s advanced reactor program.

The Department of Energy announced on July 1 that the third advanced nuclear reactor authorized under the administration’s pilot program achieved criticality on June 30 at Idaho National Laboratory.

Criticality is the point at which a reactor reaches a stable chain reaction capable of producing electricity continuously.

The reactor, known as Unity and developed by Deployable Energy, met the July 4 deadline established by Trump’s 2025 executive order, which required at least three advanced reactor concepts to achieve criticality outside national laboratories.

Reuters contributed to this report.