Lots of really strange news out of TX with Rick Perry's bizarre announcement - some links below:
-Rick Perry’s AI plan: A colossal nuclear campus in Trump’s image https://www.msn.com/en-
-Texas Firm Aims to Build World's Largest Data Energy Complex With Nuclear, Gas, Solar https://www.usnews.com/
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Commissioner Christopher Hanson’s sudden dismissal could make NRC less efficient — and less trusted — just as its workload explodes, advocates say.
Published June 23, 2025
By Brian Martucci
President Trump fired Christopher Hanson, a commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, on June 13, 2025. The image by Tony Webster is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
In a public statement, Hanson described his termination late on June 13 as “without cause, contrary to existing law and longstanding precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees.”
Hanson has not yet taken legal action to challenge his dismissal or indicated whether he plans to do so. The U.S. Supreme Court in a May ruling gave the President broad latitude to dismiss most independent agency appointees without cause.
A White House spokesperson told National Public Radio that Trump “reserves the right to remove employees within his own executive branch who exert his executive authority” and that “[a]ll organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction.” The spokesperson did not indicate what prompted Hanson’s dismissal.
NRC is currently reviewing construction permit applications for grid-connected advanced nuclear reactors in Tennessee, Texas and Wyomin
Industry groups and pro-nuclear nongovernmental organizations voiced concern that the firing would set NRC back just as its workload balloons.
A Breakthrough Institute analysis of NRC voting records shows that a fully staffed Commission is nearly twice as efficient as a three-member Commission, said Adam Stein, director for nuclear innovation at the pro-nuclear think tank.
“While a three-member commission would “[satisfy] the quorum requirement, past experience has shown that a full five-member Commission is essential for effective and timely decision making,” Stein said in a June 16 statement.
Other pro-nuclear groups echoed Stein’s efficiency concerns and hinted that Hanson’s firing could erode NRC’s legal authority.
“The arbitrary removal of commissioners without due cause creates regulatory uncertainty that threatens to delay America’s nuclear energy expansion,” the American Nuclear Society said on Monday.
Public trust could also suffer, as could the U.S.’s aspirations to be a major Western exporter of advanced nuclear technology, Nuclear Innovation Alliance President and CEO Judi Greenwald said.
“As advocates for new nuclear energy, we are focused on the NRC’s role in reestablishing U.S. nuclear energy leadership,” Greenwald said in a Monday statement. “Undermining NRC’s independence is damaging to both long-term U.S. interests and to the ongoing work that is required to ensure that nuclear power can provide reliable and clean energy to power the American economy.”
Representatives for pro-nuclear groups Clean Air Task Force, Third Wayand Good Energy Collective also issued statements of concern following Hanson’s firing.
Greenwald’s June 16 comments echo an NIA statement last month which offered qualified praise for Trump’s executive orders while warning against staff and funding cuts at the agencies responsible for implementing them, including NRC.
“Our assessment is that NRC is already making significant progress on reform in compliance with congressional direction including the 2024 ADVANCE Act,” she said on May 23. “It is in everyone’s interest that this progress continue and not be undermined by staffing cuts or upended by conflicting directives.”
Longtime industry watchdog Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Trump’s move would undercut NRC’s core safety mission.
“The main issue is that [NRC] was created specifically to avoid conflicts of interest associated with being directed by the executive branch,” Lyman said in an interview. “That independence is critical because it shows that they are making judgments based on safety criteria and not … favoring one technology or applicant over another for political reasons.”
Efforts to streamline NRC operations began in earnest with the enactment last year of the ADVANCE Act, which directed the agency to set deadlines for reactor licensing reviews, expedite certain applications and develop guidelines for lower-output microreactors.
That push has accelerated under Trump, propelled by what Lyman said are unvetted industry claims that advanced nuclear plants are inherently safer than conventional power reactors. That means it’s exactly the wrong time to weaken NRC independence, he said.
“The industry has had a chip on its shoulder for so long that it’s afraid to be honest about what it doesn’t know, and it’s putting forth a positive message that’s not backed by science,” Lyman said. “It’s the regulator’s role to see through that.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided on three policy matters to enable new ways of deploying microreactors. These very small reactors could be built, loaded with fuel, and tested at factories before being shipped to operating sites, and would generate about one percent or less of the power of a current large reactor.
The Commission’s first decision is that a factory-fabricated microreactor loaded with fuel may be excluded from being “in operation” if it has features to prevent a nuclear chain reaction. The second decision is that a microreactor with features to prevent a chain reaction may be loaded with fuel at a factory if it is done under an NRC license that allows possession of the fuel. The third decision is that the NRC staff may apply regulations for nonpower reactors to authorize testing of a microreactor at a factory before it is shipped to an operating site.
The Commission also directed the staff to continue other microreactor-related activities, such as engaging with Department of Energy/Defense efforts to build and operate microreactors on DOE/DOD sites or as part of critical national security infrastructure. This engagement aims to identify and implement licensing process efficiencies, consistent with the ADVANCE Act and relevant executive orders, to streamline the transition of microreactor technology to the commercial sector.
The NRC staff’s integrated microreactor activities plan has additional details on the agency’s regulatory activities.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2025/06/12/utah-nuclear-energy-state/
cites "high costs and long timelines" for building new reactors (and gas-fired plants)
https://www.politico.com/news/
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AMANDA BERG / FOR SPOTLIGHT PA
HARRISBURG — A group of bills aimed at boosting electricity production and regulating clean energy has rare, bipartisan support in Pennsylvania's divided legislature.
But a key Republican leader says he doesn’t plan to consider them until a court issues a final verdict on a long-debated interstate cap-and-trade program.
That program is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, which the previous Democratic administration joined via executive order in 2019 in an effort to combat climate change. It has been mired in litigation since.
The state's highest court is preparing its ruling on the program's fate after hearing arguments in May. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) told Spotlight PA that until a decision is made, his chamber is unlikely to act on energy bills.
The Senate, Pittman said, is “very limited” in its ability to pass energy-related legislation because the RGGI ruling will “dictate the course of energy production” in the state.
“For us to look at other proposals that the governor has [isn’t] very productive,” Pittman said. “You could say all you want about this EDGE tax credit. If RGGI goes in, those tax credits won't mean a darn thing.”
States that are a part of RGGI agree to cap the amount of carbon that emitters within their borders can release, lowering the cap over time. These emitters, typically energy companies, must buy credits from the state to emit any carbon, the proceeds from which go to the state.
Supporters say that the carbon cap will drastically reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases emitted in the state while having minimal effects on energy costs. Opponents argue it will drive energy companies away from Pennsylvania and discourage them from building power plants, leading to higher costs for consumers.
EDGE, or Economic Development for a Growing Economy, is a $2.6 billion package of tax credits that lawmakers passed in 2022 that has never been used. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed rewriting the package to make it easier for companies to take advantage, and the effort has bipartisan support, including in Pittman’s chamber.
The original credit would have benefited hydrogen fuel producers, dairy farmers, semiconductor manufacturers, and petrochemical producers that use natural gas.
One rewrite of the package already passed the Democratic-controlled state House with support from a handful of Republican members.
The measure mirrors Shapiro’s proposal, lowering the minimum investment threshold and the number of jobs a business must create to qualify for the incentive. It would also replace the credit for natural-gas-powered petrochemical producers with one that benefits clean energy producers.
Republicans in the state Senate have made it clear that they, too, want the tax credits to be usable.
It could be a way to “encourage [energy] generators to come to Pennsylvania,” state Sen. Gene Yaw (R., Lycoming), chair of his chamber’s critical Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, told Spotlight PA.
Different visions for the rewrite have sprung up in the state Senate. A bipartisan duo in the upper chamber proposed a bill narrowly focused on helping semiconductor manufacturers claim their credit more easily. Another Democrat and Republican pair pitched amending the credit to benefit companies that develop space-related infrastructure.
Organized labor is on board. Rob Bair, chair of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Association, a group that represents tens of thousands of union workers, pointed to the new clean energy production provision that Shapiro proposed as a way to drive investment.
“We have the opportunity to rewrite it and use it in conjunction with the IRA now,” Bair said, referring to the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which rewards states with significant federal dollars for clean energy projects. “It still gives us a good pathway to move forward in Pennsylvania.”
Pittman said he hasn’t ruled out considering the state House’s EDGE bill, telling Spotlight PA, “At the end of the day, I'm very deferential to the chairs of our respective committees. So I would need to hear a little more from them, if there's value in what the House passed.”
There are other energy bills that he is more enthusiastic about. All are longtime GOP priorities that Democrats have so far balked at, including measures to pull the state out of RGGI, create an independent office to conduct energy research, and prevent municipalities from banning specific fuel sources, like natural gas.
“Those are all issues we're more than happy to engage in and see go across the finish line,” Pittman said.
The EDGE bill isn’t the only energy measure that has some bipartisan support.
A proposal to allow communities to lease solar panels passed the state House with votes from both major parties. Another measure, sponsored by Yaw, aims to tighten oversight of Pennsylvania’s growing solar energy industry and passed with widespread support in the state Senate.
Lawmakers are also considering whether to renew a popular program, first passed last year, that provides grants to schools for installing solar infrastructure.
Pittman said he has no plans to move those — at least, not “in the period of weeks we're going to be dealing with the budget.” Lawmakers are supposed to complete that work by June 30.
At least one Democratic lawmaker is more optimistic.
State Rep. Liz Fiedler (D., Philadelphia), the chair of her chamber’s Energy Committee, says that talks are still ongoing, and it’s “very likely” that EDGE and the solar bills will be “looped into budget negotiations.”
In early June, she says, everything is still on the table, especially on policy that has strong bipartisan support.
“I think a lot of it is making sure we keep the door open for communication,” Fiedler told Spotlight PA. “Our Republican counterparts in the Senate have expressed openness … but we all hold our breath a little bit [in June].”
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