Christopher T. Hanson

Built World

Former NRC Chair overseeing digital transformation policy

The NRC approved something unprecedented in January 2026: replacing the analog safety controls at an operating nuclear reactor with fully digital systems. Constellation's $167 million upgrade at Limerick transforms control rooms built in the 1980s into modern digital command centers—the first time regulators have greenlit swapping multiple analog safety systems for a single digital platform while fuel rods are still running. The industry has been trying to make this leap for 30 years, blocked by regulatory caution and the stakes of getting it wrong. Just days after securing this approval, Constellation completed its acquisition of Calpine Corporation on January 7, 2026, creating the nation's largest electricity producer with over 55,000 megawatts of generating capacity across nuclear, natural gas, and geothermal assets.

Updated Feb 5

Rule Changes

Fired by Trump in June 2025

The Department of Energy has quietly rewritten its nuclear safety rules, removing over 750 pages of requirements—including the decades-old ALARA standard that kept radiation exposure 'as low as reasonably achievable.' The changes, shared only with regulated companies and not the public, aim to clear the path for experimental reactors to achieve criticality by July 4, 2026—a timeline nuclear experts call 'a pretty big understatement' in terms of its aggressiveness. In August 2025, Aalo Atomics broke ground on the nation's first experimental reactor under the new rules at Idaho National Laboratory, though DOE Secretary Chris Wright later acknowledged only one or two reactors might meet the July deadline.

Updated Jan 31