Report – Regulating Change and Changing Regulation: Past and Present Efforts to Reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
EIRP Paper Calls for Targeted Reforms at America’s Top Nuclear Regulator
In this EIRP report, Ben Longstreth, Paul J. Saunders, and Samuel Thernstrom, together with Jackie Toth of New Hill Consulting, trace five decades of efforts to reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, from the agency’s 1979 response to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident through its 1990s “near-death experience” and today’s implementation of the 2024 ADVANCE Act and President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14300 on reforming U.S. nuclear energy regulations.
Drawing lessons from this history, the authors find that the current wave of reform is producing real efficiency gains, but caution that further changes must be carefully targeted to avoid undermining public confidence, NRC independence, and regulatory consistency — all of which have proven essential to sustained nuclear growth in the past.
The report closes with a set of targeted recommendations, including reduced licensing fees, streamlined environmental review, and expanded NRC staff capacity, designed to support the licensing of new reactors without compromising safety.