Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy
Record date: 2025-05-29
( printed page 22591) Executive Order 14301 of May 23, 2025 Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1 . Purpose . The United States led the development of civilian nuclear power through the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Reactor Testing Station (now known as Idaho National Laboratory), and several other Federal Government entities. This work produced safe and abundant energy. But in
What this record contains
- Federal Register document
- 2025-09799
- Publication date
- 2025-05-29
- Citation
- 90 FR 22591
- Issuing office
- Executive Office of the President
Official record excerpt
( printed page 22591) Executive Order 14301 of May 23, 2025 Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1 . Purpose . The United States led the development of civilian nuclear power through the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Reactor Testing Station (now known as Idaho National Laboratory), and several other Federal Government entities. This work produced safe and abundant energy. But in the decades since, commercial deployment of new nuclear technologies has all but stopped. The Idaho National Laboratory has principal responsibility for constructing and testing new reactor designs; it concluded construction of new reactors in the 1970s. Our proud history of innovation has succumbed to overregulated complacency. As I stated in Executive Order 14156 of January 20, 2025 (Declaring a National Energy Emergency), the United States needs a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive development of advanced technologies, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain modern life and national security. Nuclear energy both is vital to this effort and has never held so much promise. Decades of research and engineering have produced prototypes of advanced nuclear technologies that incorporate passive safety mechanisms, improve the physical architecture of reactor designs, increase reactor operational flexibility and performance, and reduce risk in fuel disposal. Advanced reactors—including microreactors, small modular reactors, and Generation IV and Generation III+ reactors—have revolutionary potential. They will open a range of new applications to support data centers, microchip manufacturing, petrochemical production, healthcare, desalination, hydrogen production, and other industries. The United States cultivated the effort to design and build the first Generation IV reactor for commercial use, but the Federal Government has effectively throttled the domestic deployment of advanced reactors, ceding the initiative to foreign nations in building this critical technology. That changes today. It is the policy of my Administration to foster nuclear innovation and bring advanced nuclear technologies into domestic production as soon as possible. Sec. 2 . Definitions . For purposes of this order: (a) The term “advanced reactor” has the same meaning as the term “advanced nuclear reactor” in 42 U.S.C. 16271(b)(1) . (b) The term “Department” means the Department of Energy. (c) The term “qualified test reactor” means an advanced reactor that satisfies thresholds established by the Department sufficient to demonstrate that, from the perspective of technical development and financial backing, the reactor may feasibly be operational within 2 years from the date a substantially complete application is submitted. (d) The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Energy. Sec. 3 . Findings . With some rare and arguable exceptions, no advanced reactors have yet been deployed in America. I find that design, construction, operation, and disposition of such reactors under the auspices of the Department—and not to produce commercial electric power—would be for research ( printed page 22592) purposes, rather than “for the purpose of demonstrating the suitability for commercial application of . . . a reactor” within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. 5842 . The purpose of testing these reactors at this stage in America's industrial evolution is to establish fundamental technological viability. Thus, at least for the foreseeable future, advanced reactors over which the Department exercises sufficient control and that do not produce commercial electric power, including those “under contract with and for the account of the [Department],” 42 U.S.C. 2140(a)(2) , fall within the jurisdiction of the Department, which has authority to foster research and development in nuclear reactors. Nothing in this section alters the authority or jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. Sec. 4 . Reforming the National Laboratory Process for Reactor Testing . (a) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall issue guidance regarding what counts as a qualified test reactor for purposes of this order. (b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall take appropriate action to revise the regulations, guidance, and procedures and practices of the Department, the National Laboratories, and any other entity under the Department's jurisdiction to significantly expedite the review, approval, and deployment of advanced reactors under the Department's jurisdiction. The
The excerpt is reproduced from the public federal record and may omit later sections, tables, signatures or attachments. Open the official source for the complete text.
Questions for accountability
- What legal authority does this national security action cite?
- Which agencies or officials were directed to act?
- What measurable implementation, cost, deadline or later court action followed?
How to use this page
This is a source-record entry, not a truth-rating by itself. It preserves the action, date and original government publication so it can be connected to later claims, implementation records, court decisions, costs and measurable outcomes. Editorial claim reviews on this site use separate finding labels and explain the evidence for those findings.