Trump Gutted Nuclear Regulator as Silicon Valley Pushes Next-Gen Reactors for Data Centers
The Trump administration has hollowed out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), losing more than 400 staff — largely safety personnel — while Silicon Valley companies hype next-generation nuclear reactors to power AI data centers.
The Numbers
- NRC staff lost: 400+ people, primarily safety workers
- Demand driver: Data centers tripling expected peak power needs
- Tech push: OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon all investing in nuclear
- Quote: Former NRC chair Allison Macfarlane: 'The regulator is no longer an independent regulator — we do not know whose interests it is serving.'
The Context
- OpenAI exploring fusion energy purchases
- Microsoft signed deals with nuclear plants for data center power
- Amazon investing in small modular reactors (SMRs)
- AI training and inference require enormous electricity
Analysis
This is a dangerous convergence: gutting nuclear safety oversight exactly when the industry is poised for massive expansion. The NRC exists because nuclear accidents are catastrophic — Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima. Removing safety staff while accelerating deployment creates a ticking time bomb.
Silicon Valley's urgency is understandable — AI companies can't grow without power, and nuclear is the only carbon-free baseload option at data center scale. But the solution isn't to weaken safety standards; it's to reform the licensing process while maintaining rigorous oversight. The current approach treats safety as bureaucracy to be eliminated rather than a critical public good.
If a next-generation reactor fails at a data center site, the consequences could be severe — not just for the company but for surrounding communities. This is a bet that new reactor designs are inherently safer, but that bet should be verified, not assumed.