Trump Gutted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as Silicon Valley Pushes Next-Gen Reactors

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has lost over 400 staff members, primarily from safety divisions, as the Trump administration and Silicon Valley push for next-generation nuclear reactors to power AI data centers.

The Damage

• Staff lost: 400+ (largely safety personnel)
• NRC role: Independent nuclear safety regulator
• Former chair quote: 'The regulator is no longer independent — we do not know whose interests it is serving'

The Push

• Silicon Valley: Nuclear reactors to power AI data centers
• Tech companies: Next-gen reactors (SMRs) seen as clean energy solution
• Trump administration: 'Streamlining' nuclear regulation
• Industry hype: New reactors as energy panacea

Analysis

This is a textbook regulatory capture scenario. The nuclear industry and its Silicon Valley customers want faster reactor approvals. The NRC's safety reviewers are the bottleneck. Remove the safety reviewers, approvals get faster. Problem solved — except for the 'safety' part.

Former NRC chair Allison Macfarlane's quote is devastating: 'we do not know whose interests it is serving.' An independent regulator that has lost independence is by definition not doing its job. The NRC was created after Three Mile Island precisely because the industry couldn't be trusted to self-regulate.

For AI companies demanding nuclear power, the calculus is clear: they need massive, reliable energy, and next-gen nuclear is theoretically perfect. But building reactors faster by weakening safety oversight creates risks that could set the entire nuclear renaissance back if an accident occurs. The Three Mile Island and Fukushima disasters each set nuclear energy back by decades. History suggests patience with safety is cheaper than the alternative.