(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday directed the country's independent nuclear regulator to ease rules and accelerate approvals for new reactors and power plants, aiming to cut licensing timeline from several years to just 18 months.

The move was part of a series of executive orders intended to boost domestic nuclear energy production amid surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.

The orders also seek to reinvigorate uranium production and enrichment in the U.S., the senior White House official said.

Here is a snapshot of the U.S. nuclear energy landscape:

DOMESTIC PRODUCTIONTotal uranium concentrate production touched 676,939 pounds of U3O8 in 2024, more than triple the output recorded in 2023.

GENERATING CAPACITY

U.S. monthly nuclear power generation remained steady, peaking in January 2025 at over 71 million megawatt-hours, nearly 4% higher than in January last year.

TOTAL NUCLEAR FUEL IMPORTS

Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear reactors remain heavily reliant on uranium imports: foreign sources dominated deliveries in 2023, with Canada supplying 27%, followed by Australia and Kazakhstan at 22% each.

PROJECT STATUS

U.S. uranium in-situ recovery plants have a combined permitted capacity of 41 million pounds of U3O8 annually, with leading production sites in Wyoming and Texas.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)