Last summer, a group of officials from the Department of Energy gathered at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling 890-square-mile complex in the eastern desert of Idaho where the U.S. government built its first rudimentary nuclear power plant in 1951 and continues to test cutting-edge technology.
On the agenda that day: the future of nuclear energy in the Trump era. The meeting was convened b...
**Steelman:** The strongest version of this narrative highlights legitimate concerns about regulatory overreach stifling innovation. The NRC’s slow, risk-averse culture has indeed delayed nuclear projects, and modern reactor designs may warrant updated rules. The urgency to power AI infrastructure is real, and some safety protocols, like ALARA, may have become excessively cautious. The involvement of Silicon Valley investors could inject much-needed capital and technological innovation into a st...