Federal regulator
Appears in 4 stories
Loaned staff to DOE; independence questioned after Hanson firing
The Energy Department published its secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules on February 26, about a month after NPR first reported their existence. By early March, Aalo Atomics had completed its Critical Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory — assembled in 40 days, the first new reactor built at INL in 50 years — and said it would go critical within weeks.
Updated 3 days ago
Under executive order mandate for reform
The United States has cancelled more nuclear reactors than any other country has ever built. Of 253 reactors ordered between 1953 and 2008, only 27% are still operating—48% were cancelled outright, 11% shut down early. The last reactor ordered before a 34-year gap was in 1978, one year before Three Mile Island.
Updated May 21
Modernizing approval framework for digital control systems
The NRC approved something unprecedented in January 2026: replacing analog safety controls at an operating reactor with fully digital systems. Constellation's $167 million upgrade at Limerick replaces 1980s-era control rooms with digital command centers — the first time regulators have approved swapping multiple analog safety systems for a single digital platform with fuel rods still running.
Gatekeeper for every SMR license
No US utility has ordered a newly designed commercial reactor and seen it come online since the 1970s. On April 24, 2026, the first company trying to break that drought rang the Nasdaq bell. X-energy priced its IPO at $23 a share — $4 above its marketed range — and raised $1.02 billion, the largest US nuclear public offering in years. Shares closed their first day up 27%, giving the company a market valuation of roughly $11.9 billion. The offering was oversubscribed more than 15 times.
Updated Apr 26
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