Media Coverage
Source: E&E News, The National Law Journal
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Taina Rosa, Olivia Thomas
06.05.25
On May 23, President Trump issued a series of executive orders to accelerate the expansion of nuclear power, including a fourfold increase in output by 2050, to support growing energy demands, particularly for AI-driven data centers. Among other things, the orders direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to overhaul its regulations and expedite reactor approvals.
According to Nuclear Energy practice leader and former NRC Commissioner Jeff Merrifield, “the executive order is challenging the agency to reexamine its processes…to make sure they are appropriately balancing risks and benefits and are not imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens.”
“I believe at the end of the day, the agency still has the last word on what it needs to do to meet its safety mission,” he told E&E News.
In an interview with The National Law Journal, Merrifield added: “Over the course of the last at least 10 or 15 years, the agency’s balance between meeting its safety mission and doing it in a way that was efficient and not unnecessarily burdensome, was not appropriately aligned.”
The executive orders enable “the agency to rebalance that and make sure it meets its public health and safety mission, but at the same time, doing it in a way that is not unduly burdensome and costly for the applicants,” he said.