[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 102 (Thursday, May 29, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22591-22593]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-09799]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 102 / Thursday, May 29, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[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
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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 Secretary shall ensure that the
Department's expedited procedures enable qualified test
reactors to be safely operational at Department-owned
or Department-controlled facilities within 2 years
following the submission of a substantially complete
application.
(c) Upon finding that an applicant has submitted a
substantially complete application for a qualified test
reactor, the Secretary shall establish a team
consisting of representatives from the Secretary's
office, the relevant National Laboratory or
Laboratories, the Department's Office of General
Counsel, and any other entities within the Department
that possess the authority to deconflict, oppose, or
approve the application. The team shall provide
assistance to the applicant to ensure expeditious
processing of its application. For these purposes, each
member shall report directly to the Secretary.
(d) The Secretary shall prioritize qualified test
reactor projects for processing, as consistent with
applicable law.
Sec. 5. Establishing a Pilot Program Outside the
National Laboratories. (a) The Secretary shall create a
pilot program for reactor construction and operation
outside the National Laboratories, pursuant to the
Atomic Energy Act's authorization of reactors under the
Department's sufficient control, including reactors
``under contract with and for the account of'' the
Department, in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 2140. The
Secretary shall approve at least three reactors
pursuant to this pilot program with the goal of
achieving criticality in each of the three reactors by
July 4, 2026.
(b) Upon approval of an application for this pilot
program, the Secretary shall assign a team to provide
assistance to the applicant as specified in subsection
4(c) of this order.
Sec. 6. Streamlining Environmental Reviews. (a) The
Secretary shall, in consultation with the Chair of the
Council on Environmental Quality, take action to reform
the Department's rules governing compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) no later than
June 30, 2025, consistent with the policies articulated
in sections 2 and 5 of Executive Order 14154 of January
20, 2025 (Unleashing American Energy), and with
applicable law.
(b) The Secretary shall, consistent with applicable
law, use all available authorities to eliminate or
expedite the Department's environmental reviews for
authorizations, permits, approvals, leases, and any
other activity requested by an applicant or potential
applicant. In addition to the measures outlined in
section 7 of the Executive Order of May 23, 2025
(Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for
National Security), such measures shall include
determining which Department functions are not subject
to NEPA, creating categorical exclusions as appropriate
for reactors within certain
[[Page 22593]]
parameters (or relying on existing categorical
exclusions), relying on supplemental analyses where
reactors will be located on existing sites, or
utilizing alternative procedures under NEPA.
Sec. 7. Implementation. The Secretary shall work with
the DOGE Team Lead at the Department, as defined in
Executive Order 14158 of January 20, 2025 (Establishing
and Implementing the President's ``Department of
Government Efficiency''), with the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, and with the Director
of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to
implement this order.
Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(d) The Department of Energy shall provide funding
for publication of this order in the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 23, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-09799
Filed 5-28-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 6450-01-P