Trump Signs Four Nuclear Orders: 'Turn the Clock Back on Over 50 Years of Overregulation' (May 23, 2025)

President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to bring back American nuclear power, and his interior secretary called it the end of half a century of red tape. “This is a huge day for the nuclear industry. Mark this day on your calendar. This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of an industry,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in the Oval Office on May 23, 2025, according to the transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

“We’re signing tremendous Executive orders today that really will make us the real power in this industry, which is a big industry,” Trump said [1].

The video above shows Trump signing the nuclear energy orders on May 23, 2025. Quotes are from the American Presidency Project and the Department of Energy [1][2][3][4][5].

”It’s a Hot Industry”

“And this is all nuclear. It’s a hot industry. It’s a brilliant industry. You have to do it right. It’s become very safe and environmental, yes, a hundred percent,” Trump said [1].

“We led post–World War II in all things nuclear. But then we’ve been stagnated. We’ve choked it with overregulation,” Burgum said [1].

“And we’re also talking about the big plants. The very, very big—the biggest. We’re going to be doing them also,” Trump said. “They won’t be needed too much, but they’ll literally be able to do an entire State.” [1]

“And you’ve read a lot about cost overruns in a couple of States that were pretty significant, but we’re not going to have cost overruns,” Trump said. “And the technology has come a long way, both in safety and cost and everything else.” [1]

“Energy Security Is National Security”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explained what it means for the military. “Energy security is national security. If we don’t have reliable energy for our basing, for our troops, whether forward deployed or domestically, we’re vulnerable,” he said [1].

“So we’re going to have the lights on and AI operating when others do not, faster than everybody else because of nuclear capability,” Hegseth said [1].

”Forgot How to Build”

Industry leaders spoke up. “It used to be the case that I’d have to run to about five different places in Washington to get one answer,” said Joe Dominguez, chief executive of Constellation Energy. “And now it’s all together in one place.” [1]

Jacob DeWitte of Oklo said his company is “working on small, next-generation reactors that take technology America invented, developed, and pioneered, and bringing it to the market after it sat on the shelves of history for about 40 years.” [1]

Scott Nolan of General Matter, a fuel company, said: “Right now the U.S. is completely dependent on other countries to make the key step of enrichment in this field. And these executive orders are going to pave the way for the U.S. to regain its lead.” [1]

“We have the largest and most safe fleet right here in the United States,” said Maria Korsnick of the Nuclear Energy Institute [1].

What the Orders Do

One order tells the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to move faster. The White House said it sets “an 18-month deadline for construction and operation of new reactors and a 12-month deadline for continued operation of an existing reactor.” [2]

The rules overhaul includes “adopting science-based radiation limits, instead of relying on flawed radiation exposure models,” the White House said [2].

Another sets construction targets. “The Department of Energy will prioritize the facilitation of 5 GW of power uprates to existing nuclear reactors and construction on 10 new large reactors by 2030,” the White House said [3].

That order also tells the energy secretary “to create a program to dispose of surplus plutonium by processing and making it available for advanced reactor fuel fabrication,” the White House said [3].

A third order, on reactor testing at the Energy Department, says: “The Secretary shall approve at least three reactors pursuant to this pilot program with the goal of achieving criticality in each of the three reactors by July 4, 2026.” [4]

A fourth, for military bases and AI sites, will “speed up the approval and adoption process for specialized nuclear reactors at these sorts of sites,” Staff Secretary Will Scharf said [1].

Trump also signed an order titled “Restoring Gold Standard Science.” “One of the issues that we’ve had in recent decades is that Government policy has been made on the back of junk science, scientific studies and findings that have included conflicts of interest or scientific misconduct,” Scharf said [1].

Trump joked as he signed. “I’m just thinking—as you’re saying that, I just signed—what about autopens? Could I use an autopen?” he asked, to laughter [1].

By the Numbers

4: executive orders on nuclear energy, per Burgum [1].
18 months: the new deadline for licensing new reactors, per the White House [2].
10: new large reactors under construction by 2030, the goal [3].
3: test reactors to reach criticality by July 4, 2026, the goal [4].

What Happened Next

America beat the deadline. In July 2026, the Energy Department announced that Aalo Atomics’ test reactor at Idaho National Laboratory “is the fourth DOE-authorized advanced reactor to achieve the criticality milestone, exceeding the July 4th goal outlined by President Trump in his May 2025 executive order.” [5]

“President Trump asked for three advanced reactors to be authorized and achieve criticality by the 250th anniversary of our great country. I’m pleased to share that through the dedication and hard work of Aalo, INL and DOE, we have surpassed that ask and delivered four!” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright [5].

“The hardest problem in nuclear was never the physics, our country simply forgot how to build. The success of the Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program is proof America can execute again,” said Yasir Arafat of Aalo Atomics [5].

For Trump’s coal orders, see HYGO News’ page on April 8, 2025. For Trump on power for AI at the July summit, see the page on July 23, 2025.