Nuclear red tape gets the axe: US and UK race to rewrite the rulebook for atomic ambitions

Since its establishment in 1974, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has imposed stringent regulatory barriers that drastically curtailed new reactor approvals, authorizing only two reactors between 1974 and 2025 compared to 133 before its inception. This regulatory bottleneck effectively stifled nuclear innovation and expansion in the US for over five decades, underscoring the need for comprehensive reform to revitalize the sector.

In a decisive move to reverse decades of stagnation, President Trump in 2025 signed four executive orders designed to turbocharge the US nuclear industry by mandating the NRC to license new reactors within an ambitious 18-month timeframe and setting a goal to have at least three small modular reactors (SMRs) operational by mid-2026. This shift not only accelerates deployment timelines but also signals a strategic pivot towards advanced nuclear technologies as a cornerstone of national energy policy.

Addressing regulatory overreach, the executive orders also compel the NRC to reconsider its notoriously strict 'As Low as Reasonably Achievable' (ALARA) radiation safety rule, dubbed the 'zero banana rule' for its near-impossibility to meet, which had effectively rendered nuclear plant construction illegal in the US. By relaxing this constraint, the administration aims to remove a critical barrier that has long hindered nuclear infrastructure development.

Innovatively leveraging national security priorities, the administration designated nuclear plants powering AI facilities as 'defense-critical infrastructure,' creating a regulatory loophole that could allow these projects to bypass the NRC’s traditionally lengthy review process. This strategic classification, including plans to build nuclear-powered data centers on military bases, exemplifies a novel approach to fast-tracking nuclear deployment by aligning it with defense imperatives.

In June 2026, the DOE launched a landmark $17.5 billion loan program designed to accelerate the deployment of up to 10 Westinghouse AP1000 reactors by providing up to five separate loans, each backing a pair of reactors. This initiative requires joint ownership between Westinghouse and eligible utilities or energy companies, with each partner committing $500 million in equity per project, underscoring a robust public-private partnership model aimed at streamlining construction timelines and reducing costs.

Beyond financing, the loan program strategically targets the revitalization of the domestic nuclear supply chain, aligning with the Biden administration’s ambitious goal to have 10 new large reactors under construction by 2030. Energy Secretary Chris Wright highlighted that these loans are not merely about funding reactors but are pivotal in rebuilding the nation’s industrial backbone for nuclear energy, reflecting a comprehensive approach to overcoming market challenges and construction risks through coordinated government and industry collaboration.

By mid-2026, the UK government demonstrated a proactive commitment to advancing nuclear innovation through both international collaboration and pioneering regulatory frameworks. The five-year memorandum of understanding between the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) exemplifies this, facilitating personnel exchanges and shared regulatory expertise to bolster Singapore’s nuclear safety capabilities as it pursues net-zero goals by 2050. Concurrently, the UK became the first nation to publish dedicated planning policies specifically tailored for nuclear fusion projects, a milestone hailed by ministers as pivotal in accelerating one of the world’s earliest commercial fusion endeavors.

Building on these collaborative strides, the UK’s proposed Nuclear Regulation Bill, announced in the King’s Speech 2026, aims to overhaul the regulatory landscape by implementing all 47 recommendations from John Fingleton’s 2025 Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce report. Central to this reform is the establishment of a Commission for Nuclear Regulation, designed not to replace but to unify existing bodies like the ONR and Environment Agency, thereby streamlining decision-making and reducing the risk-averse culture that has historically inflated costs and delayed projects. This legislative package also targets outdated frameworks, such as the 1987 'Tolerability of Risk' standard, updating it to reflect modern safety innovations like Security-by-Design and Passive Safety, while reforming Environmental Impact Assessment processes to allow upfront financial mitigation contributions—measures intended to balance robust safety with efficient project delivery.

In mid-2026, Rolls-Royce solidified its role as a pioneer in advanced nuclear technology by joining a trilateral agreement with the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory and Japan Atomic Energy Agency to advance High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGR) and coated particle fuel development. This collaboration leverages decades of expertise and government backing from both the UK and Japan, positioning them as leaders in deploying cutting-edge nuclear solutions aligned with ambitious net-zero goals.

The UK government has set an ambitious target to reach 24 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2050, aiming for nuclear to supply about 25% of the country's electricity. Rolls-Royce’s SMR technology was selected in 2025 as the preferred design for the UK's first small modular reactor project, with the Wylfa site earmarked for up to eight units, starting with three. Meanwhile, Holtec International and EDF have proposed deploying up to four SMR-300 reactors at the former Cottam coal plant to power a 1 GW advanced data centre development, highlighting a diversification of SMR applications beyond traditional electricity generation.

Despite technological progress, regulatory and planning hurdles remain a significant bottleneck for nuclear deployment in the UK. Calls for legislative reforms, such as the Energy Independence Bill and Nuclear Regulatory Bill, aim to streamline approvals. The Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce’s 2025 'Fingleton Report' recommended a 'radical reset' with 47 proposals to accelerate project delivery at lower cost, underscoring the urgent need for government action to unlock the sector’s potential.

International collaboration continues to be a cornerstone of the UK's nuclear innovation strategy. TerraPower’s Natrium reactor, already under construction in the US, entered the UK's Generic Design Assessment process in early 2026, exemplifying efforts to leverage regulatory synergies between the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation. Similarly, Holtec's SMR-300 design has cleared stage 2 of the UK’s assessment, with the project aiming to attract foreign direct investment by capitalizing on UK-US regulatory cooperation for efficient deployment.

The nuclear energy sector in 2026 grapples with challenges reminiscent of the 1960s, such as fierce competition from cheap fossil fuels—now gas instead of coal—and a risk-averse utility landscape scarred by costly projects like Vogtle and Summer. Unlike state-backed vendors in Russia, China, and South Korea, Western reactor suppliers have retreated from fixed-price contracts after financial debacles with Westinghouse and Areva, leaving a void in industrial champions capable of absorbing construction overruns. Moreover, the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) delivering cost-effective, factory-fabricated nuclear power is undermined by the inherent infrastructure costs—seismic foundations, radiation shielding, and bespoke components—that keep per-kilowatt costs comparable to large plants like Vogtle.

In response to these entrenched challenges, governments are stepping into a dominant role to manage construction risk and meet ambitious nuclear expansion goals, such as tripling capacity by 2050. The UK exemplifies this strategic pivot, with legislative reforms underway including the forthcoming Nuclear Regulation Bill designed to implement John Fingleton’s 47 recommendations aimed at slashing regulatory risk—a major investment barrier. This Bill will establish a Commission for Nuclear Regulation to unify decision-making across bodies like the Office for Nuclear Regulation, streamlining processes without replacing existing regulators, while also modernizing Environmental Impact Assessment procedures and updating the outdated 'Tolerability of Risk' framework to better accommodate advanced safety features of new nuclear technologies.

Beyond regulatory reform, the UK’s nuclear deployment strategy underscores the critical need to overcome infrastructure and delivery bottlenecks that impede energy transition ambitions. As industry leaders emphasize, the UK’s challenge is not ambition or funding but the pace and scale of infrastructure delivery, with multi-year grid connection delays notably stalling industrial decarbonization projects despite available technology and capital. To accelerate progress, integrated, delivery-led organizations combining planning, engineering, and digital capabilities from project inception are essential, leveraging repeatable design frameworks and digital twins to reduce design risk and improve financing predictability. Early embedding of environmental and consenting considerations, coupled with better alignment between national objectives and regional delivery realities, further mitigates delays and objections, illustrating the necessity of whole-system, pragmatic thinking in nuclear project execution.