Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base
This Executive Order directs federal agencies to accelerate rebuilding the U.S. nuclear energy industrial base — from uranium mining, conversion, and enrichment through fuel fabrication, recycling/reprocessing, and reactor deployment — to advance national security, energy independence, and industrial competitiveness. It sets deadlines for studies and plans, uses Defense Production Act authority to make voluntary agreements with domestic firms, redirects plutonium disposition policy toward making material available for fuel, and prioritizes federal support (loans, contracts, grants) to spur reactor restarts, uprates, new-build projects, and workforce development. If implemented, the order could boost domestic supply chains for reactor fuel (including HALEU needed by many advanced reactors), fast-track certain nuclear projects through federal financing tools, expand training and apprenticeship pipelines, and increase Department of Energy and Defense coordination. Actions are constrained by existing law, appropriations, budget/OMB review, and stated requirements to adhere to nonproliferation, safety, and environmental safeguards.
Key Points
- 1Strengthen domestic fuel cycle and waste policy: DOE must produce (within 240 days) a comprehensive report recommending national policy on spent fuel/high-level waste management and advanced fuel-cycle capabilities, including reprocessing/recycling, reuse of recovered materials, waste disposal, reevaluation of candidate facilities, and safe transport of advanced fuels and reactor cores overseas.
- 2- Explainer: "Fuel cycle" = the sequence from uranium mining to fuel fabrication, reactor use, and then management/reuse or disposal of spent fuel.
- 3Expand uranium conversion/enrichment and change excess-material policy: DOE (within 120 days) must plan to expand U.S. capacity for conversion and enrichment to meet civilian and defense needs for LEU, HALEU, and HEU; DOE must update excess-uranium policy (within 90 days) and prioritize contracting for domestic fuel fabrication facilities that can supply test/pilot reactors within ~3 years.
- 4- Explainer: LEU = low-enriched uranium (used in most commercial reactors); HALEU = high-assay low-enriched uranium (enriched to ~5–20% U‑235, sought by many advanced reactors); HEU = high-enriched uranium (used for naval reactors, some weapons).
- 5Repurpose plutonium disposition: DOE shall halt the “dilute and dispose” plutonium program (except where legally obligated to South Carolina) and instead establish a program to process surplus plutonium for potential use in advanced-reactor fuel fabrication.
- 6- Note: This shifts emphasis from permanent disposal toward recovery/industrial reuse, with nonproliferation and safety considerations noted.
- 7Use Defense Production Act (DPA) tools and federal procurement support: Within 30 days DOE (with DOJ and FTC) will seek voluntary DPA Section 708 agreements with domestic nuclear companies to coordinate procurement of LEU/HALEU and to form consortia; DOE is authorized, consistent with law, to use procurement support, forward contracts, or guarantees to ensure offtake for new domestic conversion/enrichment/reprocessing/fabrication capacity.
- 8- Explainer: DPA Section 708 allows the federal government to enter voluntary agreements and offer measures to ensure critical industrial capacity in national emergencies or strategic priorities.
- 9Accelerate reactor deployment and workforce development: DOE (via Loan Programs Office) is directed to prioritize support to achieve 5 GW of power uprates at existing reactors and to have 10 new large reactors with complete designs under construction by 2030; DOE will prioritize funding for advanced technologies and coordinate with DoD on repurposing closed plants for military microgrids. Education and labor agencies must expand apprenticeships, career and technical programs, and student access to DOE national lab R&D resources for nuclear fields.