Key Takeaway: The NRC’s proposed streamlined DOE/DOD reactor licensing pathway includes public disclosure obligations that can constitute prior art to later filed patent applications, and that raise potential inventorship issues, requiring careful consideration.
On April 2, 2026, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposed a rule to streamline commercial licensing of reactor designs already authorized by the Department of Energy (DOE) or Department of Defense (DOD), as reported in NuclearNewswire. According to the NRC, the proposed rule “would improve NRC licensing review efficiency, where applicable, by explicitly establishing by regulation and additional means for reactor applicants to demonstrate the safety functions of their reactor designs and thus, would contribute to the safe and secure deployment of civilian nuclear energy technologies.” NRC Chair Ho Nieh touted the proposed rule as reflecting “effective coordination of the U.S. government to safely accelerate the deployment of new nuclear reactors,” and stated that “[i]f another federal agency has done the heavy lifting, the NRC will not make reactor developers start over from scratch.”
Under the proposed rule “Applicants using this option would be required to identify how aspects of the prior authorization satisfy NRC regulations. The applicant would also be required to address how any changes to the design, its functionality, associated hazards, siting information, or underlying safety assumptions from those considered in prior authorization reviews meet appliable NRC requirements.”
Innovative nuclear reactor developers will welcome the news of this streamlined commercial licensing process, but, if implemented, the pathway raises IP issues that participants should carefully consider with IP counsel.
Prior Art Implications
Any technical details participants disclose of their reactor design to identify how aspects of the prior authorized design, or how changes from the previously authorized design, meet NRC regulations can constitute prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102. Applicants should consult IP counsel to ensure innovations that will be disclosed in the NRC filing have been covered in already filed patent applications or that such patent applications will be filed prior to the public filing with the NRC.
Inventorship Issues
If the previously authorized reactor design has been modified for commercial purposes, such changes may not only involve patentable innovations, but may also raise possible inventorship issues if the team involved in the original design authorized by DOE or DOD differs from the one that adapts that design into the planned commercial reactor design. Failing to correctly identify the inventors of the commercial-stage innovations can render resulting patents unenforceable.
Additionally, if innovations in the originally authorized design or in the modified design were invented by a company’s employees jointly with others, this can lead to ownership of the invention by multiple entities. Developers should establish clear internal protocols for tracking who contributes to innovations in the originally authorized design, or to changes made to the previously authorized design, and to confirm ownership of such inventions with executed assignment documents.
Public comments on the proposed rule are open through May 4, 2026.
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