The Trump administration advocates for nuclear power

The point here is that if we overregulate safety, we will add significant costs to products that are unnecessary, as they do nothing to improve safety. Again, the excellent record of nuclear power plants over 7 decades should tell us that.

If we imposed similar safety restrictions on automobiles (no harm to people), we would end up with a car that weighed 10,000 pounds, got 3-4 miles per gallon, and was restricted to no faster than 10 mph on the road. Yet, citizens accept the over-40,000 deaths caused by automobile operation annually in the US to enjoy their benefits.

Yet, nuclear power reactors have a track record of no deaths under normal operations and suffer the most onerous safety regulations among all industries. Environmental damage is likewise extremely minimal. So, relaxing the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) will not increase environmental danger either.

So, if you want cheaper, cleaner, and reliable electricity, get these government monkeys off the backs of companies trying to bring you much more affordable and cleaner electricity. This Executive Order recognizes this reality and is moving to reduce these unnecessary and expensive regulations.

The Executive Order includes a goal of increasing nuclear power by 300 GW (moving it from 20% of current demand for electricity to 80% in the US) by 2030. This is a tall order, but America put a man on the moon with slide-rule technology in the 1960s, so the US certainly can attain this goal. We simply need to return to fair market processes and free enterprise. The companies exist, and the technology exists to do this now. We just must set them free. This Executive Order also calls for this.

Finally, the Executive Order calls for more streamlined NRC licensing processes that utilize fewer personnel. If we have smart people in nuclear power technology, wouldn't they be best used to advance the technology rather than stop it? As mentioned earlier, we are discussing the safest industry in the world over the last seven decades. Indeed, this alone should greatly reduce the need for scrutiny.

So, the President has established his priorities (there are three other parts of this Order we will consider in future articles). Get the government out of the way of progress and allow free enterprise to bring us cheap, clean energy. He also encourages the recycling of slightly used nuclear fuel (SUNF). As pointed out in previous articles, by using fast reactors, the current stockpile of SUNF could power the US at its current demand for electricity for 270 years.

Indeed, the most expeditious path to the disposition of this material should be encouraged, and no plan exists today to dispose of this material in the US. Accelerating the process would produce far more electricity than our current and future needs, so (more supply than demand) would force the retail price of electricity to pennies per kWh or less. The nay-sayers for nuclear power have not improved their rhetoric for decades and still offer the same propaganda they have always exaggerated, with no comparison to the safety record of this industry and no consideration of its benefits.

Perhaps it is time to weigh the benefits against the risks. If we do, nuclear power comes out way ahead of other electricity production methods. This Executive Order is at least a step in this direction. We need to ensure it is enforced and strengthened to allow for an improvement in quality of life at a cost of pennies per kWh of electricity for everyone in the world.