CASPER — One day before President Donald Trump signed sweeping executive orders last week to streamline licensing for nuclear reactors and handling radioactive waste, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission official testified before Wyoming lawmakers highlighting the commission’s autonomy, independence and strong focus on safety.
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency led by five Senate-confirmed commissioners. We have about 2,800 staff members across our headquarters,” said Ryan Alexander, government liaison officer for the NRC's Dallas-Fort Worth office. “We regulate the use of radioactive material across various technologies. We will always be focusing on safety and security first and foremost.”
But some of the Wyoming legislators attending the hearing in Casper on Thursday, along with industry watchdogs outside Wyoming, now question the NRC's focus and independence.
Trump’s order called for the NRC to move nuclear projects through bureaucratic red tape and get them licensed at a much faster rate — an edict that critics say clashes with the NRC’s ability to independently regulate the power industry and instead tilts the commission toward advocacy.
Regulatory Journey
Trump’s orders could have significant impacts for at least three Wyoming projects seeking federal approval.
These projects and others potentially jump-started by the recent executive orders will be regulated under a new mission statement from the NRC, Alexander told lawmakers.
“The original mission statement was expanded,” said Alexander, projecting a slide with the NRC’s new mission statement.
The new statement emphasizes “efficient and reliable licensing oversight,” according to the NRC.
“You can see here that the new statement is more forward-looking and includes recognition of new technologies that are under the NSA's responsibilities,” continued Alexander. “We must be efficient and reliable in executing regulatory functions, including relative to inspection and licensing.”
Case Study
Among the projects that have been wrestling with a complex web of licensing requirements is a Radiant project that aims to build micro nuclear reactors in Bar Nunn.
Matt Wilson, senior director of operations at Radiant Industries, based in California, spoke at the May 22 hearing and highlighted the kind of regulatory challenges Trump addressed in his executive orders the following day.
Wilson told lawmakers that Radiant faces a complex web of licensing requirements.
"We need to get a materials license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be able to actually hold nuclear fuel at our facility,” he said. “We need to get a transportation license to be able to actually move our reactors around the U.S. We need to get a construction license and operating license manufacture.”
When pressed by Rep. Kevin Campbell, R-Glenrock, about transportation safety testing, Wilson acknowledged significant work remains.
"Do we have a fully licensed container that we can move spent fuel around the U.S.? The answer is no. We have a lot of work to do," Wilson testified. "We will have to go through these tests of making sure it can withstand 126-mile per hour traffic accident? Are we going to have to light on fire or we have to drop it on its corner at 30 feet? This is all work that we will have to do."
Wilson noted Radiant is currently in "pre-application" status with the NRC.
"We are having an active dialog," he said, describing a recent meeting at NRC headquarters outside Washington, D.C.
Pump Breaks?
While Alexander with the NRC and Wilson with Radiant emphasized moving the process along and what's ahead, Rep. Mike Schmid, R-La Barge, asked Wilson during the May 22 hearing about making time to explain all the details to Wyoming residents.
Schmid wondered if Radiant Industries planned to hold information sessions statewide because he’s hearing a lot of pushback from constituents.
“The reason I asked that question is because I frankly, I've got hundreds of emails that are not in favor of this,” said Schmid. “I can count on one hand that give me a thumbs up. I would like to see some town halls around the state and to try to talk to people, let people know what's happening.”
Executive Orders
Trump's executive orders signed May 23 established fixed deadlines for NRC licensing decisions — 18 months for new reactor construction and 12 months for continued operation of existing reactors — while directing a comprehensive reorganization of the commission.
Radiant's ambitious project timeline highlights the regulatory challenges that Trump's orders aim to address.
The company hopes to build a $250 million to $500 million facility manufacturing 1-megawatt nuclear reactors designed to fit inside shipping containers.
These micro reactors would be assembled at a roughly 350,000-square-foot facility near Bar Nunn and shipped to customers worldwide.
As Cowboy State Daily reported in March, Radiant is designing prototypes to manufacture and assemble portable micro nuclear reactors that would be constructed and shipped out from its facility in Bar Nunn.
The company plans to start testing its nuclear reactor prototype at the Idaho National Laboratories in early 2026. The goal of the company would be to start construction by the end of 2026 and begin production by 2028.
Radiant hopes to sell each reactor for $30 million, and draw $50 million of total revenue off each reactor over its lifetime. The company hopes to sell 50 units per year.
There is no permanent depository for spent nuclear fuel, so all spent fuel from Radiant’s reactors would return to Wyoming for storage.
A period of five years would separate the sale of the reactors and the return of spent fuel.
The fuel would be removed from the reactors and placed in large steel canisters, sizing 12 feet wide and 15 feet tall. Once sealed, the canister would go inside a large concrete cavern at the Bar Nunn facility that would be missile- and tornado-proof, and regulated by the NRC.
The executive orders and NRC reforms could also impact the timeline for TerraPower's Natrium reactor project in Kemmerer.
At peak construction, the TerraPower project expects to create about 1,600 construction jobs, with 200 to 250 full-time positions once operational.
TerraPower has submitted its construction permit application in March 2024 and anticipates receiving the construction permit in late 2026. Once granted, full nuclear island construction can begin, pending NRC approval.
Community Engagement Challenges
William Almas, a Lander resident with experience in nuclear decommissioning, emphasized community involvement in his May 22 testimony before the Joint Minerals Committee.
Almas highlighted the importance of community support, recalling how he served on the Community Engagement Panel for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant decommissioning in California, and warned that public acceptance is crucial for nuclear projects.
"It is extremely important that communities most affected by the nuclear facility be brought into the discussion," Almas testified. "And that broad support for the project is reached before regulatory approval and construction."
Almas encouraged nuclear companies to utilize the Department of Energy's "collaboration-based siting process" for community engagement.
“The facts must be clearly presented and discussed by an impartial third party, giving both the proponents and opposition a forum for discussion complete support for something as emotionally charged as this storage of spent fuel will never be reached,” said Almas.
Whether public input and discussion will be curtailed or curbed because of the federal order to quicken the licensing process is not known.
Unanswered Questions
Scientific watchdog groups responded to Trump's executive orders with statements of concern.
The Atlantic Council's analysis noted that the orders "decrease the independence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission" and represent "key breaks from precedent."
Jennifer T. Gordon of the Atlantic Council wrote that the Trump administration "has articulated ambitious goals for rapid deployment of next-generation nuclear technologies; however, reducing personnel and funding for the NRC and the Department of Energy, along with weakening the NRC's independence and global credibility, will make it challenging to realize the full potential of the US nuclear energy industry."
The Union of Concerned Scientists immediately criticized the executive orders, with Dr. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety, stating: "By fatally compromising the independence and integrity of the NRC, and by encouraging pathways for nuclear deployment that bypass the regulator entirely, the Trump administration is virtually guaranteeing that this country will see a serious accident or other radiological release."
Speaking to Inside Climate News (ICN), John Burrows, energy and climate policy director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, responded to the executive orders.
“The NRC is really respected as an independent agency free of industry and political influence, and to the extent that these executive orders undermine that, I think it poses [a] significant challenge for public buy-in for a lot of these projects,” Burrows told ICN.
The executive orders establish a national goal to expand American nuclear energy capacity from around 100 Gigawatts today to 400 Gigawatts by 2050.
It’s unclear how Wyoming will fit into this big picture, but the May 22 hearing in Casper offered a window into the tone of future discussion.
Rep. Campbell said he was frustrated by the Radiant Industries proposed project in Bar Nunn because “everybody acts like this is just a cut-and-dried thing. … Let’s just get it done. Go to lunch.”
"Safety is my biggest concern,” Campbell declared during the hearing. “Where it seems to me that we're putting a dollar bill ahead of the safety of the people of Wyoming. And it makes me nervous when I’m hearing we’re going to deliver 2028. There are just a lot of unanswered questions that I think are important.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
