Jeff Brumfield

The new program is being run by the Energy Department.

And in a meeting in June, department officials told company leaders they were ready to do whatever they could to help.

Here's Energy Department lawyer Seth Cohen.

Well, I mean, historically, it's come down to one word, which is safety.

The U.S.

has one of the strongest nuclear regulators in the world.

It's called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

And some of these companies think that the NRC has been too strict.

They think the Energy Department will be easier to work with.

One company is Valor Atomics.

It's run by a guy named Isaiah Taylor.

And he told me the NRC just isn't the right regulator for these new reactor designs.

So Valor's part of this Energy Department program, and Taylor says it's just what they need.

But many safety advocates are really worried about this approach, and they're particularly worried that the NRC has no direct oversight.

Well, first of all, the Energy Department has just far fewer staff devoted to reactor safety.

It also hasn't really regulated commercial reactors much in the past.

On top of that, its mission is to develop nuclear power.

Alison McFarlane is a former NRC chair under the Obama administration.

She calls that a conflict of interest.

You cannot promote and regulate nuclear power.