Donald Trump · U.S. · Wired
In February, the Department of Energy quietly slashed several environmental and safety regulations for reactors operating
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The reactor designs in the pilot program have benefited not from cutting red tape.
Key facts
- A growing number of investors and tech figures in Silicon Valley see smaller nuclear reactors, which can provide 24/7 carbon-free energy to power data centers and other operations, as part of a new
- These prototypes mean everything and nothing,” says Adam Stein, the director of the Nuclear Energy Innovation program at the Breakthrough Institute
- In classic Trumpian fashion, the executive order, issued in May 2025, set an aggressive timeline to get at least three reactors critical, coinciding with the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations
- The industry has long been viewed as stuck—a nuclear reactor was always 10 years away,” says Stein
Summary
Three startups are providing the fireworks for the Department of Energy's Fourth of July celebrations by meeting a major nuclear milestone. Other companies in the pilot program have signaled that they may reach criticality —a term used to describe a nuclear reactor sustaining a chain reaction, a key step in providing power—shortly after July 4, following a deadline set by President Donald Trump in an executive order last year. “These prototypes mean everything and nothing,” says Adam Stein, the director of the Nuclear Energy Innovation program at the Breakthrough Institute. For decades, the American nuclear landscape has been dominated by large, light-water reactors, which use water to move heat and sustain the nuclear reaction. “The industry has long been viewed as stuck—a nuclear reactor was always 10 years away,” says Stein.