The White House signed four executive orders on nuclear energy on May 23, and AI data centers run through them. The orders set a national goal of expanding U.S. nuclear capacity from around 100 GW today to 400 GW by 2050. They direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to rewrite its rules within 18 months and adopt fixed licensing deadlines. They tell the Energy Department to prioritize 5 GW of uprates at existing reactors and construction on 10 new large reactors by 2030. And one of them directs the department to treat some AI data centers at its sites as critical defense facilities and to get an advanced reactor operating at the first such site within 30 months.
The capacity goal
The headline target is a quadrupling. Adding about 300 GW over 25 years would mean bringing roughly 12 GW of new nuclear capacity online every year from now to 2050. The NRC fact sheet notes that since 1978, only two new reactors have begun construction and entered commercial operation in the United States. The gap between that record and the target is the measure of how much the orders are asking of regulators, suppliers and utilities.
The near-term goals are more concrete. The fact sheet on the nuclear industrial base order says the Energy Department will prioritize facilitating 5 GW of uprates at existing reactors and construction on 10 new large reactors by 2030. Federal loans and loan guarantees will be prioritized for nuclear projects, including restarting closed plants and completing construction of plants that were suspended early.
Faster licensing
The NRC order directs the commission to complete rulemakings within 18 months to revise its regulations and guidance comprehensively. The revisions include fixed deadlines: 18 months for a decision on construction and operation of a new reactor and 12 months for continued operation of an existing one. The order also calls for science-based radiation limits in place of what the White House calls flawed exposure models. The fact sheet argues that an overly risk-averse culture has kept the NRC from licensing new reactors even as technology has advanced.
For data center developers who have signed deals for future nuclear supply, licensing time is the critical variable. Deals such as Constellation's 20-year agreement with Microsoft to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1, now the Crane Clean Energy Center, depend on NRC approval. Constellation said in September 2024 that it expected the plant to be online in 2028, subject to an NRC safety and environmental review. Fixed deadlines would reduce uncertainty for projects of this kind.
AI on federal sites
The national security order is where AI appears explicitly. Its background section says advanced computing infrastructure for AI at military and national security installations and national laboratories demands reliable, high-density power that cannot be disrupted by external threats or grid failures.
Section 4 directs the Secretary of Energy to start designating AI data centers in the contiguous United States that are located at or operated in coordination with Energy Department facilities, including those supporting national security missions, as critical defense facilities where appropriate. The power infrastructure needed to run them, both nuclear and non-nuclear, is to be treated as defense critical electric infrastructure. The Secretary must use all available legal authorities to site and authorize privately funded advanced reactors at department-owned or controlled sites to power AI infrastructure and other needs, with a goal of operating an advanced reactor at the first site no later than 30 months from the date of the order. That points to late 2027.
The order also commits fuel. The Secretary is to release at least 20 metric tons of high-assay low-enriched uranium into a fuel bank for private projects authorized to build and operate at department sites to power AI and other infrastructure. HALEU supply has been one of the main constraints on advanced reactor designs.
On the defense side, the Army is to begin operating a reactor at a domestic military base no later than September 30, 2028.
Fuel and the supply chain
A fourth order addresses fuel. The fact sheet says domestic sources supply only about 5% of the fuel used in U.S. reactors. The order directs the Energy Department to plan for expanded domestic uranium conversion and enrichment, to report on spent fuel management and on commercial recycling and reprocessing, and to make surplus plutonium available for advanced reactor fuel. The administration says it will use the Defense Production Act to seek voluntary agreements with domestic companies for enriched uranium procurement.
What it means for data center power
The orders do not create new megawatts in the near term. Even the fastest plausible timelines for new large reactors put first power in the 2030s, and advanced reactors face first-of-a-kind risks. What they change is the policy environment for long-term contracts. Technology companies have been signing agreements for nuclear power that will not arrive for years. A federal commitment to faster licensing, loan priority and fuel supply lowers the risk that those contracts will slip indefinitely.
The federal site provision is the most direct link. By allowing private reactors to be built on Energy Department land to power AI facilities, under department rather than NRC regulation in some cases, the order creates a route that bypasses commercial licensing for at least the first projects. National laboratories already host large computing facilities, and the land, security and technical staff exist.
The risks
The NRC order raises concerns about independence. The commission was designed as an independent regulator, and fixed deadlines and directed rule changes are a significant intervention. Critics argue that speed imposed from outside could weaken safety reviews and undermine public confidence, which has long been the industry's constraint as much as cost.
The cost question is unchanged. The fact sheets focus on licensing and fuel, but recent large reactor projects in the United States ran far over budget and behind schedule. The orders' answer is federal financing. Whether loans and guarantees are enough to bring 10 large reactors to construction by 2030 will depend on utilities and investors willing to take on the remaining risk.
For the AI sector, the orders provide a long-term signal. The short-term power picture, through the rest of the decade, will still depend on gas, existing nuclear, renewables and storage.