President Trump signs Executive Orders in the Oval Office while taking questions from reporters.
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00:00I can speak from a military standpoint, but this is very all-inclusive.
00:04We're signing tremendous executive orders today that really will make us the real power in this industry,
00:12which is a big industry.
00:14Doug, why don't you go ahead and go.
00:16Well, thank you, President Trump.
00:17This is a huge day for the nuclear industry.
00:20Mark this day on your calendar.
00:22This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of over-regulation of an industry.
00:27American greatness has always come from innovation, and we were very innovative.
00:32We led post-World War II in all things nuclear, but then we've been stagnated.
00:37We've choked it with over-regulation.
00:39Today, Will is going to walk us through a series of four executive orders.
00:43Each of these help attack separate issues that have held back this industry.
00:49And with us today, we've got a number of CEOs from the industry representing some of our largest nuclear providers,
00:54but also a big change.
00:55This is a time when capital and competition has finally come to this industry.
01:00We've got venture capital.
01:01We've got startups coming into all aspects, the small, modular nuclear,
01:05and we've also got an EO that's talking about the importance of us having a secure supply chain
01:10and being able to get that fuel load here in the United States as opposed from foreign sources.
01:15This has impacts on national security, on our defense.
01:18And again, President Trump here today has committed to energy dominance,
01:24and part of that energy dominance is that we've got enough electricity to win the AI arms race with China.
01:30What we do in the next five years related to electricity is going to determine the next 50,
01:35because this is the first time in history where electricity can be translated into intelligence.
01:40And we need that intelligence for every aspect of our economy, but also for defense.
01:45Pete Higseth in the Department of Defense has been a key part of this,
01:49and this is going to help us make sure that we're providing the defense we need,
01:54where we need that AI, need the electricity, but also to secure our bases here at home and around the world.
01:58Secretary?
01:59Sure, I'll just add to that before going to Will.
02:03Energy security is national security.
02:05If we don't have reliable energy for our basing, for our troops,
02:12whether forward deployed or domestically, we're vulnerable.
02:15So by having small modular nuclear capabilities, which are rapidly being fielded,
02:19that we can use on our bases here and around the world,
02:22we're creating an environment where if things happen elsewhere, the military can be relied upon.
02:27Also, we need, we're including artificial intelligence in everything we do.
02:33If we don't, we're not fast enough.
02:34We're not keeping up with adversaries.
02:36You need the energy to fuel it.
02:38Nuclear is a huge part of that, modular or otherwise.
02:41So we're going to have the lights on and AI operating when others do not,
02:45faster than everybody else because of nuclear capability.
02:48So this is a big game changer for us as well.
02:51And we're also talking about the big plants, the very, very big, the biggest.
02:55We're going to be doing them also.
02:57But we're going to start off a little bit.
03:00I think our focus today is the smaller module.
03:03But included in this group, we're also doing big plants where needed.
03:08They won't be needed too much, but they'll literally be able to do it in an entire state.
03:13And you've read a lot about cost overruns in a couple of states that were pretty significant,
03:17but we're not going to have cost overruns.
03:18And the technology has come a long way, both in safety and cost and everything else.
03:23Would a couple of you guys like to talk about your companies and do you want to say anything?
03:29Joe, why don't you kick it off?
03:31Sure.
03:31My name is Joe Dominguez.
03:32I run Constellation Energy.
03:34We have about 25% of the nation's fleet.
03:37We're the largest publicly traded nuclear company in the world.
03:40We're in the middle of a merger with Calpine.
03:43And once completed, we will be the largest electric producing company in the world.
03:48About enough power to produce, to cover all of Mexico, actually.
03:53I didn't know that when we talked.
03:54You were so modest.
03:56I can't believe it.
03:57That's normally not said about me, Mr. President.
04:00I'm very impressed.
04:01Go ahead.
04:03So you think it's got a great future?
04:05Yeah.
04:05Well, absolutely we do.
04:07And the big change here is not only the technology has come around,
04:11but we have some of the largest companies in the world, the hyperscalers,
04:14who need this energy for AI, who are now working with us to fund the development
04:19and construction of the next generation nuclear.
04:23Nuclear is a 24-7 resource.
04:26These data centers run 24-7.
04:29Some of them will cost $200, $300 billion, and they want to run them all of the time.
04:34So we can't use intermittent resources.
04:37We need something that's always on 24-7, and nothing does that better than nuclear.
04:42The problem in the industry has historically been regulatory delay.
04:47Mr. President, you know this because you're the best at building big things.
04:52Delay in regulations and permitting will absolutely kill you,
04:56because if you can't get the plant on, you can't get revenue, and the interest costs are horrible.
05:01We're wasting too much time on permitting, and we're answering silly questions, not the important ones.
05:08For example, let me give you an example.
05:10In three places in this country, we're trying to license new reactors at sites that already have reactors.
05:18Yet I have to spend $35 billion at each site just for the NRC to do an analysis that says this is a good place for nuclear.
05:27Well, guess what?
05:28We've been running nuclear in that community for four decades.
05:31Why are we even asking that question?
05:33I'd rather spend that $35 million, three times $105 million, perfecting the design, start building the foundation, and getting going.
05:43We need to do this for America.
05:45Are we doing something about the regulatory in here?
05:48Oh, yes, sir.
05:49Yes, you are.
05:49You are, sir.
05:50Because that's going to be a big factor.
05:51Yes, sir.
05:52That issue I just described will be addressed in this EO and many other issues that we don't have time with the president to cover.
06:01But you say it's very – we've contemplated just about everything, right?
06:05Well, this – Mr. President, this Energy Dominance Council that you have created is something I haven't seen in 30 years.
06:13It brings together all the pieces of government in one place to expedite the process.
06:19Under Secretary Burgum's leadership, this has been an amazing, amazing thing.
06:24It used to be the case that I'd have to run to about five different places in Washington to get one answer.
06:30That's great.
06:31And now it's all together in one place.
06:32So all I know about Secretary Burgum and Secretary Wright is if we haven't gotten it right, we'll get it right shortly, and there'll be another order for you to sign up.
06:40Thank you so much for your leadership.
06:42You want to say something?
06:43Well, I was just going to say commercial nuclear, a bit of an unsung hero.
06:47And I just want to thank you, Mr. President, Secretary Burgum, Secretary Wright, for bringing this attention to commercial nuclear.
06:54We have the largest and most safe fleet right here in the United States.
06:59And upon that, we have fantastic innovation that's being brought forward.
07:04And it's going to come in all shapes and sizes.
07:06And it's going to actually be coming through some of these companies that you see represented here.
07:11We're going to have great jobs.
07:13We're going to have wonderful energy.
07:15And we're going to be ready.
07:16So thank you, Mr. President, for leaning in.
07:18Appreciate it.
07:18Great job you have done, too.
07:20How about talking about your company and the job you're going to do?
07:23Yes, thank you, Mr. President.
07:24Well, first of all, a little MIT nuclear connection that goes back into familial for you.
07:28So, yeah, we're working on small reactors.
07:30I'm Jacob DeWitt, CEO, co-founder at O-Globe, working on small next-generation reactors that take technology America invented, developed, and pioneered, and bringing it to the market after it sat on the shelves of history for about 40 years.
07:41And it's because of the actions that you're doing today that we're going to help unleash that.
07:45Changing the permitting dynamics is going to help things move faster.
07:48We're seeing private investment flow into this space like we've never seen before.
07:51We went public about a year ago.
07:53And one of the most successful, actually, go public outcomes for a transaction like that for a small nuclear company because the market needs this and wants this.
08:00And under your leadership, creating the Dominance Council, I mean, it's hard to overstate the value of that.
08:06And nuclear is a manifestation of energy dominance.
08:08In fact, a golf ball of uranium metal, which this is not, but it's a golf ball, has enough energy continent to power your entire life's energy.
08:16I mean, it doesn't get any better than that.
08:18And to get back to building, nuclear uses the fewest materials, right, the least amount of concrete, of steel, of fuel for the amount of energy it produces.
08:26So it should be the cheapest, the most scalable, the most sustainable, just like you mentioned, Mr. President, about the importance of doing that, right?
08:32The physics are on our side, and these things help unleash this innovation to actually realize that.
08:36So it's never been more exciting.
08:39Very exciting indeed.
08:40Go ahead, please.
08:41And I'm Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter.
08:43We're an American enrichment company, trying to bring back the U.S.'s lead in producing nuclear fuel.
08:49So just like car engines need fuel and nuclear reactors need fuel, right now the U.S. is completely dependent on other countries to make the key step of enrichment in this fuel.
08:58And these executive orders are going to pave the way for the U.S. to regain its lead.
09:02So we really appreciate it.
09:03Will you be doing the AI plans?
09:05Because we have a lot of them going up now, or soon going up, and they need tremendous electricity.
09:10Are you going to be involved in many ways?
09:12Yes.
09:13Will a lot of them be using nuclear?
09:16Some are using oil and gas.
09:17Some are using different things.
09:19Many of them will be, I think.
09:20It just makes a lot of sense.
09:22Nuclear is a perfect solution, and that's where most of them are interested.
09:25Good luck.
09:26That would be great.
09:27It's going to be, yes.
09:28Okay, Will, please.
09:30The first executive order we have for you relates to the issue that Secretary Hexitt was speaking to,
09:35which is the need for incredible amounts of power at defense installations and also at AI-focused installations.
09:42What this executive order will do is speed up the approval and adoption process for specialized nuclear reactors at these sorts of sites.
09:51It also involves the Department of Energy making available the necessary fuel stock.
09:55It also creates a special envoy position and a strategy around nuclear technology export, the idea being that we can grow American industry on the back of foreign purchasers who are interested in this sort of technology as well.
10:08I'm just thinking, as you say, that I just said, what about auto pens?
10:14Could I use an auto pen?
10:15What did Biden do?
10:16Did he have an auto pen at the desk?
10:17Nuclear power.
10:18No, he didn't do it.
10:20He used nuclear power.
10:22You know, he didn't do events like this, I guess.
10:25That's all right.
10:26Otherwise, you know, you walk it to the other side of the room, I have an auto pen sign it, right?
10:31Here it is.
10:32It's phase one.
10:34Very big phase.
10:34Very important phase.
10:35Sir, this next executive order is intended to reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
10:49You heard a few of the people here speak about the complex regulatory processes that have really held the nuclear industry back.
10:56Before 1978, there were 133 reactors built in the United States.
11:01Since 1978, only two new commercial reactors have come online.
11:06That's because of overregulation.
11:08And the goal of this executive order is bringing that regulatory process into line with the actual needs of the industry and public safety,
11:16with an end goal of quadrupling the amount of nuclear power production in the next two and a half decades.
11:22That's fantastic.
11:24That's exciting, right?
11:25There you go.
11:34This next executive order relates to nuclear reactor testing, sir.
11:38The degree of overregulation and governmental inaction in this space in particular has had the effect of throttling development
11:45of new, highly modernized nuclear reactors that could really revolutionize the field of nuclear power generation.
11:53So this executive order, it orders a revised regulatory process to speed this whole process while preserving, obviously, core safety concerns.
12:02It also creates a new pilot program with an expectation that we will have three new experimental reactors online by July 4th next year.
12:10That's amazing.
12:12That's amazing.
12:18Okay.
12:19Come on.
12:20Lastly, sir, we have an executive order on reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base.
12:25There are a number of core issues here, including the issue with fuel feedstock that one of the speakers mentioned before.
12:32This executive order, among other actions, includes an invocation of the Defense Production Act in order to spur a closer collaboration with private industry
12:42to ensure that we have the fuel supplies we need for a modernized nuclear energy sector.
12:49In addition to that, it includes crucial provisions relating to the development of a nuclear energy sector workforce
12:55and a number of other key building blocks to the overall nuclear industry that we're trying to spur here.
13:02All right.
13:12We have one more for you here, sir.
13:14This doesn't directly relate to nuclear energy, but it's on a similar subject.
13:19This executive order is entitled Restoring Gold Standard Science.
13:24One of the issues that we've had in recent decades is that government policy has been made on the back of junk science,
13:31scientific studies and findings that have included conflicts of interest or scientific misconduct.
13:37The purpose of this executive order is to recenter policymaking around gold standard science,
13:43scientific efforts that have followed appropriate scientific methods that don't include those sorts of conflicts of interest,
13:50and to ensure that when departments and agencies are relying on scientific studies to promulgate rules,
13:56to promulgate regulations, that the science that they're relying on is highly reliable and available to the public.
14:03He did a very good job.
14:05He did.
14:06How many people here could have done that?
14:08I don't know.
14:09I think a lot.
14:11Thanks.
14:12Good job, Will.
14:12Thank you, Mr. President.
14:20Is that it?
14:21That's all we have for you now.
14:28Do you have any questions for these brilliant people?
14:31They are brilliant people, aren't you?
14:33Mr. President, I'm here, sir.
14:36A lot of the concern over the years has helped the nuclear industry react to not safety.
14:40Are you satisfied with those safety concerns?
14:42Yeah, we are.
14:43It's become a very safe, actually, it's become very safe, and tremendous work's been done on that more than anything else, and it's really the automatic shutoffs.
14:52There's so many different things that they have now that they would have never had.
14:55You know, my uncle was a great nuclear person years ago, and that was a different, if you would have asked that question, probably, it would have been a much different answer.
15:05But they have tremendous shutoff power and other powers, and very redundant, as I understand it, at a level that nobody's ever seen before, so it's safe.
15:15And we're going to do a lot of the small ones, and we're going to do some of the big ones, but, yeah, very safe, safe and clean.
15:22Mr. President, on nuclear, Mr. President, what do you say to folks who are concerned about speeding up licensing or even doing fuel processing raises safety and deliberation?
15:40Yeah, we're going to get it very fast, and we're going to get it very safe, and we're going to get the people in and out, and they're going to do plans.
15:48In many cases, they'll do three or four smaller ones and put them together.
15:51That's what France has done.
15:52France has done a good job of this for years, and they, as I understand it, they had basically one plan, and if they needed more, they'd do three or four or five of them.
16:02I don't know if we have to go that far, but, you know, there's something about building one big one, but we'll build the big ones, too.
16:09We're going to have, I think we'll be, I would say we'll be second to none, because we're starting very strong, but we, it's time, it's time for nuclear, and we're going to do it very big.
16:20Yeah, please.
16:20Mr. President, what about the European Union?
16:22You said that negotiations are going nowhere.
16:25What, where are the kind of points where they're moving?
16:28I've been saying to everybody, they've treated us very badly over the years.
16:32It was formed in order to hurt the United States, in order to take advantage of the United States, and they've done that.
16:39We have a big deficit with them.
16:41They sell millions and millions of cars, as you know, Mercedes and BMW and Volkswagen and many others, and we, we were restricted from, essentially restricted from selling cars into the European Union, which is not nice.
16:55And I just said, it's time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game.
17:02You know, nobody, they've taken advantage of other people representing this country, and they're not going to do that any longer.
17:08Yeah.
17:08Mr. President, you are a deal maker, deal breaker.
17:12What are you hoping to achieve with a 50% terrorist?
17:16Well, I think this is, there is no tariff, because what they'll do is they'll send their companies into the U.S. and build their plant.
17:23You know, we have, I guess, over $12 trillion practically committed.
17:28You look at other presidents, they haven't had a trillion dollars for a year, for two years, for three years.
17:34We have numbers.
17:35Nobody's ever seen numbers like we have.
17:37And if they build their plant here, then they have no tariff at all.
17:41Are you looking for a deal in nine days?
17:43Will you be able to do that, sir?
17:46I'm not looking for a deal.
17:47I mean, we've set the deal.
17:48It's at 50%.
17:49But, again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here.
17:54Now, if somebody comes in and wants to build a plant here, I can talk to them about a little bit of a delay.
17:59But, you know, while they're building their plant, which is something I think that would be appropriate, maybe, we'll determine that.
18:05Is there anything they can do, sir?
18:06Is there anything the EU can do?
18:08I don't know.
18:08We're going to see what happens.
18:09But right now, it's going on on June 1st.
18:13And that's the way it is.
18:14No, they haven't treated us properly.
18:15They haven't treated our country properly.
18:18They banded together to take advantage of us.
18:21And the people behind me know, because they had some of that with their industry.
18:26But generally, you know, we signed a great deal with United Kingdom.
18:32We have numerous other deals that are ready to be signed.
18:35We have, we've signed a deal with China.
18:38We have some really amazing deals.
18:41But the European Union, I mean, the sole purpose was really to, not to hurt us, but to take advantage of us.
18:49And we're not going to be taken advantage of us.
18:50Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, on Apple, on Apple, you said this morning that if they don't make their iPhones in the U.S., you're going to hit them with a 25% tariff.
19:00Right.
19:00Do you have the power to tariff one single company?
19:03And why would you want to put an American company in that way?
19:06It would be more.
19:06It would be also Samsung and anybody that makes that product.
19:10Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair.
19:11So anybody that makes that product.
19:13And that'll start on, I guess, the end of June.
19:16It'll come out.
19:17I think we have that appropriately done by the end of June.
19:20And so if they make that product.
19:23Now, again, when they build their plant here, there's no tariff.
19:28So they're going to be building plants here.
19:30But I had an understanding with him that he wouldn't be doing this.
19:33He said he's going to India to build plants.
19:35I said, that's okay to go to India, but you're not going to sell India without tariffs.
19:39And that's the way it is.
19:41Yeah.
19:41What makes you confident, sir, that Apple can build in the United States at a price that American consumers can build?
19:48Oh, they can.
19:49No, they can.
19:50A lot of it is so computerized now.
19:52These plants are amazing if you look at them, but they can do that.
19:56And, you know, actually, as you know, Apple's coming in with $500 billion.
20:01So are the chip companies.
20:03We have all of the chip companies coming in.
20:05The biggest, $500 billion, $200 billion, $250 billion they're spending.
20:10But we're talking about the iPhone now.
20:13And, you know, the iPhone, if they're going to sell it in America, I want it to be built in the United States.
20:19They're able to do that.
20:20When you say that Walmart should eat the cost of the tariffs, is that an acknowledgment that it is U.S. companies that bear the front of tariffs, not foreign countries?
20:28Sometimes the country will eat it.
20:30Sometimes Walmart will eat it.
20:33And sometimes there will be something to pay, something extra.
20:36I've always been a fan, and I've always believed.
20:39And if you look, take a look at what I did four years ago.
20:43We had the greatest economy, and we had no inflation.
20:46Remember that.
20:47We had no inflation.
20:48And yet we had hundreds of billions of dollars of tariffs that are put on China, yet we had no inflation.
20:55We had no big cost differential.
20:58Oftentimes, and I don't like it when a department's doing it, because they'll do a lot of business.
21:04But, you know, they announce record profits and everything else.
21:06They have to take out some of their profits.
21:08They'll make a little bit less money.
21:09But I don't want the consumer to pay.
21:12I don't want the consumer to pay.
21:13But why impose tariffs that you know are hurting American businesses?
21:17They're not hurting.
21:18They're helping because they're creating jobs in America.
21:20We're creating tremendous amounts of jobs in America like you've never seen.
21:24We're having investment in America.
21:26We're not getting ripped off by every country in the world.
21:28We've been ripped off by every country in the world.
21:31They're making their product.
21:32They sell it.
21:33They don't give our people the jobs.
21:34They make them with other countries' jobs.
21:36And we will have something that nobody will ever see again, I think.
21:42I think we have a potential to do numbers that we never envisioned in the wildest year.
21:47Look at what's happening.
21:49$10 to $12 trillion in literally a couple of months.
21:55It's not nothing like that's ever happened.
21:57It's a very special.
21:58We're doing a very special thing.
22:01We want if they're going to sell it here, generally speaking, not for all products.
22:04There's some products we don't want to make.
22:06And frankly, we're much better off getting them elsewhere.
22:09But for certain products, we want cars.
22:11We want to make cars.
22:12We don't want to have, and I like Canada very much, but we don't want to have Canada making our cars.
22:16We want to make our cars.
22:18Oh, it's a phone call.
22:19Do you mind?
22:20Hello?
22:21Okay, it's only a congressman.
22:23I'd let you know, actually.
22:29Mr. President, are you considering stopping other universities from taking foreign students?
22:34Well, it's a different congressman.
22:38They're all congratulating us.
22:40Is that something?
22:42Yeah, it's lucky it is.
22:44Okay, let's go.
22:46Are you considering stopping other universities besides Harvard from accepting foreign students?
22:50Well, we're taking a look at a lot of things.
22:51And as you know, billions of dollars has been paid to Harvard.
22:56How ridiculous is that?
22:58Billions.
22:59And they have $52 billion as an endowment.
23:02They have $52 billion.
23:04And this country is paying billions and billions of dollars and then gives student loans,
23:10and they have to pay back the loans.
23:11So Harvard is going to have to change its ways.
23:14On that note, a lot of CEOs in the United States, big companies, are for it.
23:24What is that going to do?
23:26I'm fine with that.
23:27No, we want to do that.
23:30We're actually going to be doing something in the near future that's going to make it possible
23:34for people to come into this country and come in and, you know, have a road toward citizenship.
23:40And I think it'll be very exciting, but it's too soon to speak.
23:42But you don't think that many students want the best and brightest from around the world
23:46to come to Harvard.
23:48I do.
23:48But a lot of the people need remedial math.
23:52Did you see that?
23:53Where the students can't add two and two and they go to Harvard.
23:57They want remedial math, and they're going to teach remedial math at Harvard.
24:03Now, wait a minute.
24:03So why would they get in?
24:04How can somebody that can't add or has very basic skills, how do they get into Harvard?
24:11Why are they there?
24:11And then you see those same people picketing and screaming at the United States and screaming
24:16at, you know, they're anti-Semitic or they're something.
24:20We don't want troublemakers here.
24:22But how do people that can't – when Harvard comes out with a statement that they're going
24:26to teach some of their students remedial math, that's basic math, that's not the deal.
24:32Okay, and anyone – is it bad?
24:36Are there other countries you're considering shortening the 90-day pause on tariffs for?
24:41And then are there specific steps you're looking for to need to take –
24:44We know where we have a lot of requests and, you know, you don't have the people to handle
24:49it, frankly.
24:49Everybody wants to make a deal.
24:51I'm sure now the European Union wants to make a deal very badly, but they just – they
24:56don't do it right.
24:58They don't go about it right.
24:59The other thing they do is they sue our companies all the time.
25:02You know, they have suits where their judges – I don't know if they're appointed by them,
25:07but they're definitely Europe-centric, and we're not going to stand for it.
25:13They won a $17 billion lawsuit for Apple, and I read that case, and that's not a case
25:19that should have been won.
25:21They're suing other of our companies.
25:22They use this as a weapon, but they use it really to raise funds for what they do.
25:27It's almost like a fundraising mechanism.
25:29So we add that to the fact that they do the non-monetary tariffs and lots of other
25:34trading – you would call them trading barriers.
25:37They don't take our cars.
25:39They don't take our agriculture.
25:41They don't take anything, but we take their cars by the millions, and therefore they have
25:46the jobs, they get the money, and we get closed plans.
25:49It's not going to happen that way anymore.
25:50Thank you very much, everybody.
25:52Thank you, Press.
25:53Thank you, Press.
25:55Thank you, Press.
25:59Thank you, sir.
26:03Thank you, sir.
26:05Thank you, sir.
26:06Thank you, sir.
26:07Thank you, sir.
26:08Thank you, sir.
26:09Thank you, sir.
26:10Thank you, sir.
26:11Thank you, sir.
26:12Thank you, sir.
26:13Thank you, sir.
26:14Thank you, sir.
26:15Thank you, sir.
26:16Thank you, sir.
26:17Thank you, sir.
26:18Thank you, sir.
26:19Thank you, sir.
26:20Thank you, sir.
26:21Thank you, sir.
26:22Thank you, sir.
26:23Thank you, sir.
26:24Thank you, sir.
26:25Thank you, sir.
26:26Thank you, sir.
26:27Thank you, sir.
26:28Thank you, sir.