Trump signs executive orders to spur US 'nuclear energy renaissance'

Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Friday intended to spur a "nuclear energy renaissance" through the construction of new reactors he said would satisfy the electricity demands of data centers for artificial intelligence and other emerging industries. The orders represented the president's latest foray into the policy underlying America's electricity supply. Trump declared a national energy emergency on his first day in office over and moved to undo a ban implemented by Joe Biden on new natural gas export terminals and expand oil and gas drilling in Alaska. Nuclear does not carry oil and gas's carbon emissions, but produces radioactive waste that the United States lacks a facility to permanently store. Some environmental groups have safety concerns over the reactors and their supply chain. Trump signed four orders intended to speed up the approval of nuclear reactors for defense and AI purposes, reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the goal of quadrupling production of electricity over the next 25 years, revamp the regulatory process to have three experimental reactors operating by 4 July 2026 and boost investment in the technology's industrial base.