NPR: Secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules are made public, February 26, 2026
According to NPR:
…The rule changes came about after President Trump signed an executive order calling for three or more of the experimental reactors to come online by July 4 of this year — an incredibly tight deadline in the world of nuclear power. The order led to the creation of a new Reactor Pilot Program at the Department of Energy.
Commercial nuclear reactors have historically been regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is known for its public process. The Energy Department rules had applied to a small number of experimental reactors on government property. The pilot program extends that authority to a larger set of experimental commercial designs. It also expands where those reactors can be built: several are under construction outside of the department’s national laboratories.
To help facilitate Trump’s deadline, Energy Department officials rewrote the internal rules. It shared the rules with ten companies who were part of the pilot program, but the rewritten rules, and even their existence, was not known to the public until NPR obtained copies of them.
The rules are now public on the Energy Department’s Idaho Operations Office website, located at Idaho National Laboratory, which is running the Reactor Pilot Program for the department. The website also contains standards and policy documents that were revised for the program…
DOE Reactor Pilot Program Selections:
Aalo Atomics Inc.
Antares Nuclear Inc.
Atomic Alchemy Inc.
Deep Fission Inc.
Last Energy Inc.
Oklo Inc. (two projects)
Natura Resources LLC
Radiant Industries Inc.
Terrestrial Energy Inc.
Valar Atomics Inc.
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