根据美国总统特朗普5月23日发布的行政命令，美国将在2030年前完成至少10座新的核反应堆建设

由于1977年美国总统吉米·卡特为防止核扩散实施限制核能发展的政策、1979年三哩岛核事故发生，以及美国核管理委员会对颁发新反应堆许可证制定了苛刻的环境要求且监管时间表充满不确定性，美国大多数国家核实验室被迫关闭。

结果，美国核燃料循环基础设施现在严重萎缩。核电目前约占美国发电量的19%，而且严重依赖外国铀原料、铀浓缩和转化服务。唐纳德·特朗普总统已决定重振美国核工业基础，并加快核电站的建设和运营。

核复兴？

5月23日，特朗普签署了五个旨在推动核能复兴的行政命令，包括改革美国核管理委员会、倡议重振核工业基础、改革能源部核反应堆测试、出于国家安全需要部署先进核反应堆技术，以及恢复“黄金标准”科学。这些行政命令允许在美国能源部实验室进行反应堆设计测试，同时消除监管障碍，以重建公众对国家科学事业的信任。

为重振美国核工业基础、加快核能扩张，特朗普政府计划采取以下措施：

• 实现核监管现代化，以减少美国对外国技术的依赖，减少监管障碍，支持国内核工业；

• 重新调整核管理委员会的机构文化和人员，以迅速推动核电发展，同时确保反应堆安全；

• 重新确立美国在核能领域的全球领先地位；

• 启动美国核能工业基础建设，通过增加燃料供应和产量来确保国家和经济安全；

• 确保民用核供应链的安全；

• 提高先进核反应堆许可证的颁发效率；

• 培养美国劳动力，确立美国能源主导地位，并加速迈向更加安全和独立的能源未来；

• 改革和简化国家实验室的反应堆测试流程，使测试合格的反应堆能够在提交基本完整申请后的两年内安全运行；

• 促进核能创新，重建美国在核能领域的全球领先地位，同时确保可靠、多样和经济的能源供应，以推动美国的繁荣和技术进步；

• 释放美国能源潜力，确保美国能源独立和促进经济增长；

• 部署先进的核技术用于支持国家安全目标，包括为人工智能基础设施和国家安全设施提供动力；

• 消除政府对私营部门投资和在联邦场地部署先进核技术的障碍；

• 提高美国民用核工业在全球商业核项目的参与度；

• 为关键国防设施和人工智能功能所需的计算基础设施提供动力，确保其正常运转；

• 定义“黄金标准”科学，并要求联邦研究机构使其现有项目和活动符合这些基本原则，以重建公众对国家科学事业的信任。

通过上述措施，特朗普政府试图将美国的核电装机容量从目前的100吉瓦扩大到2050年的400吉瓦。其目标是重建安全、独立的国内核燃料供应链以及达成约123项协议（目前为24项），并在第120届国会结束前达成至少44项协议，以便美国核工业能够进入伙伴国家的新市场。

2025年5月20日，美国总统特朗普在白宫椭圆形办公室谈论“金色穹顶”导弹防御系统

世界担心吗？

在第一任期，特朗普将核电和基础设施的拨款增加到美国国防预算的6.4%，并支持基础设施现代化，以确保拥有一支训练有素、随时待命、适应力强且量身定制的从业队伍。鉴于此，世界其他国家至少有十几个理由担心特朗普第二届政府的核复兴：

• 核武将使美国离无核世界的目标更加遥远。奥巴马总统的政策是减少美国的核武器数量，降低核武器在国家安全战略中的重要性，从而逐步建立无核世界。特朗普2.0时代的核复兴则强调核武器在国家安全中的关键作用，并试图将核能转化为全球主导能源，这与无核世界的目标渐行渐远。

• 美国核能复兴将产生放射性废物和热污染。核反应堆会产生大量废物，其放射性物质可能需要数千年才能分解。由于热污染会危及当地生态系统，核反应堆还需要大量的水进行冷却。此外，核能复兴将阻碍对更清洁、更优质的绿色能源（包括太阳能、风能和水力发电）的投资。

• 核扩散风险增加。卡特总统限制核能发展正是为了防止这种情况发生。出于同样的原因，奥巴马也竭尽全力剥夺无核国家和恐怖分子获取核材料的机会。相比之下，特朗普鼓励并要求向伙伴国家出售尽可能多的核反应堆和核材料，大大增加了核扩散的风险。

• 核事故风险增加。核反应堆爆炸或熔毁将导致立即死亡、长期健康影响以及大量人口撤离。受影响地区将无法居住，清理工作将持续数十年。1979年的三哩岛事故、1986年的切尔诺贝利事故和2011年的福岛第一核电站事故就是例子。

• 美国核能复兴可能引发核竞赛。特朗普将通过国防部和能源部在联邦土地上建造核反应堆，以满足关键的国家安全需求。美国参议院早在1999年就拒绝批准《全面禁止核试验条约》，因此特朗普政府可能同时使用民用和军用核反应堆来测试炸弹和其他装置，以巩固美国的核主导地位。这可能会在拥有同等核能力的国家引发核军备竞赛。

美国自诩世界领袖，正因为这样人们才希望它能率先批准旨在终止核试验的《全面禁止核试验条约》，并承诺在武装冲突中“不首先使用”核武器。

According to the executive orders by U.S. President Donald Trump on May 23, the U.S. will complete the construction of at least 10 new nuclear reactors by 2030.

Most of America's national nuclear laboratories were shuttered because of President Jimmy Carter's policy of limiting the development of nuclear energy to prevent nuclear proliferation in 1977, combined with the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's onerous environmental requirements and uncertain regulatory timelines to license new reactors.

As a result, the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure has severely atrophied. Nuclear power plants provide approximately 19 percent of the electricity generated in the country today, leaving it heavily dependent on foreign sources of raw uranium, uranium enrichment and conversion services. President Donald Trump has decided to reinvigorate America's nuclear industrial base and expedite the production and operation of nuclear power plants.

Nuclear resurgence?

On May 23, Trump signed five executive orders intended to unleash a nuclear renaissance. They included reforms to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an initiative to reinvigorate the nuclear industrial base, reforms to nuclear reactor testing at the Department of Energy, deploying advanced nuclear reactor technologies for national security and restoring “gold standard” science. These executive orders allow for reactor design testing at DOE labs while removing regulatory barriers and aim to rebuild public trust in the national science enterprise.

To reinvigorate the U.S. nuclear industrial base and expedite the expansion of nuclear energy, the Trump administration plans to do the following:

• Modernize nuclear regulation to reduce America's dependence on foreign technologies, decrease regulatory barriers and support the domestic nuclear industry;

• Realign NRC culture and personnel to rapidly promote nuclear power while ensuring reactor safety;

• Reestablish the U.S. as a global leader in nuclear energy;

• Jump-start America's nuclear energy industrial base and ensure national and economic security by increasing fuel availability and production;

• Secure civil nuclear supply chains;

• Improve the efficiency with which advanced nuclear reactors are licensed;

• Prepare the American workforce to establish U.S. energy dominance and accelerate toward a more secure and independent energy future;

• Reform and streamline the National Laboratory process for reactor testing to enable qualified test reactors to be safely operational within two years following the submission of a substantially complete application;

• Foster nuclear innovation to reestablish the U.S. as a global leader in nuclear energy while securing a reliable, diversified and affordable energy supply to drive American prosperity and technological advancement;

• Unleash American energy to secure American energy independence and fuel economic growth.

• Deploy advanced nuclear technologies to support national security objectives, including powering artificial intelligence infrastructure and national security installations;

• Remove government barriers to private sector investment and deployment of advanced nuclear technologies at federal sites;

• Promote the civil U.S. nuclear industry in the development of commercial nuclear projects worldwide;

• Power and operate critical defense facilities and computing infrastructure for AI capabilities;

• Define “gold standard” science and require federal research agencies to conform their existing programs and activities to those fundamentals to rebuild public trust in the national science enterprise.

By doing all this, the Trump administration is trying to expand American nuclear energy capacity from today's 100 GW to 400 GW by 2050. It aims to rebuild a secure and sovereign domestic nuclear fuel supply chain and pursue some 123 agreements (from 24 today) and conclude at least 44 by the close of the 120th Congress so that the U.S. nuclear industry can access new markets in partner countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the 'Golden Dome' missile defence system in the Oval Office at the White House on May 20, 2025.

Is the world worried?

Trump in his first term increased funding for nuclear power and infrastructure to 6.4 percent of the U.S. defense budget and supported modernization of infrastructure to ensure a well-trained, ready, resilient and appropriately tailored workforce. Seeing this, the rest of the world has at least a dozen reasons to be worried about Trump 2.0's nuclear renaissance:

• It moves the U.S. further away from a world free of nuclear weapons. President Barack Obama's policy was to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal and decrease the importance of nuclear weapons in the country's national security strategy so as to build a world free of nuclear weapons gradually. The nuclear renaissance under Trump 2.0 emphasizes the critical role of nuclear weapons in national security and seeks to turn nuclear power into global energy dominance, which drifts away from a world free of such weapons.

• A U.S. nuclear renaissance will produce radioactive waste and heat pollution. Nuclear reactors produce a lot of waste whose radioactivity can take thousands of years to break down. Nuclear reactors also need large quantities of water for cooling, as heat pollution endangers local ecosystems. Additionally, a nuclear renaissance will stall investment in cleaner and better green energies, including solar, wind and hydropower.

• It increases the risk of nuclear proliferation. President Carter limited the development of nuclear energy precisely to prevent that. Obama tried in every way to deprive non-nuclear countries and terrorists of the chance to get nuclear materials for the same reason. Trump, by contrast, encourages and demands the sale of as many nuclear reactors and as much nuclear material to partner countries as possible, greatly increasing the risk of proliferation.

• It increases the risk of a nuclear accident. An explosion or meltdown of a nuclear reactor will bring immediate death, long-term health effects and the evacuation of a large population. Affected areas will remain uninhabitable, and cleanup efforts will span decades. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 are examples.

• A U.S. nuclear renaissance could give rise to a nuclear race. Trump would leverage the departments of Defense and Energy to build nuclear reactors on federally owned land to support critical national security needs. Already, the U.S. Senate in 1999 rejected ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), so the Trump administration may employ both civil and military nuclear reactors to test bombs and other devices to consolidate U.S. nuclear dominance. This could trigger a nuclear arms race in countries with parallel capabilities.

America sees itself as a world leader. So one might hope that it would take the lead in ratifying the CTBT, banning nuclear tests and promising “no first use” of nuclear weapons in armed conflicts.