The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a wide-ranging revision of the rules governing how nuclear power plants are licensed and overseen in the United States. The proposal, announced Sept. 11, would eliminate several outdated requirements and give the agency more flexibility to apply risk-based standards as it evaluates both existing reactors and new applicants.
The rulemaking stems from Executive Order 14300, which directed the NRC to modernize its regulatory framework. NRC Chairman Ho K. Nieh said the changes are meant to replace older requirements with approaches that reflect current technology and decades of operating experience while preserving safety margins.
Among the specific changes, the agency would apply a more risk-informed approach to earthquake design standards, remove the expiration date on standard design approvals, and give utilities more flexibility in staffing reactor control rooms. The proposal would also update how the NRC handles new or revised requirements for plants already operating, clarify reporting rules for equipment defects and noncompliance issues, and streamline routine reporting and recordkeeping obligations that utilities must meet.
Other provisions address how new reactor applicants must respond to issues that arise at existing plants, align financial qualification requirements with the NRC's newer Part 53 licensing framework, and clarify rules for how utilities manage decommissioning trust funds once a plant retires.
The public comment period runs 45 days from the rule's publication in the Federal Register, and the NRC plans to hold a virtual public meeting during that window to walk through the proposal, though it will not accept comments during the session. Comments can be filed at regulations.gov under docket NRC-2025-1138.
Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission - https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/news-releases/2026/nrc-proposes-broad-overhaul-nuclear-reactor-regulations