By MATTHEW DALY and JENNIFER McDERMOTT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed executive orders Friday intended to quadruple domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, a goal experts say the United States is highly unlikely to reach.

To speed up the development of nuclear power, the orders grant the U.S. energy secretary authority to approve advanced reactor designs and projects, taking authority away from the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.

The order comes as demand for electricity surges amid a boom in energy-hungry data centers and artificial intelligence. Tech companies, venture capitalists, states and others are competing for electricity and straining the nation’s electric grid.

“We’ve got enough electricity to win the AI arms race with China,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. “What we do in the next five years related to electricity is going to determine the next 50″ years in the industry.

Still, it’s unlikely the U.S. could quadruple its nuclear production in the timeframe the White House specified. The United States lacks any next-generation reactors operating commercially and only two new large reactors have been built from scratch in nearly 50 years. Those two reactors, at a nuclear plant in Georgia, were completed years late and at least $17 billion over budget.

Trump is enthusiastic

At the Oval Office signing, Trump, surrounded by industry executives, called nuclear a “hot industry,” adding, “It’s time for nuclear, and we’re going to do it very big.”

Burgum and other speakers said the industry has stagnated and has been choked by overregulation.

“Mark this day on your calendar. This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of an industry,” said Burgum, who chairs Trump’s newly formed Energy Dominance Council.

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The orders would reorganize the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure quicker reviews of nuclear projects, including an 18-month deadline for the NRC to act on industry applications. The measures also create a pilot program intended to place three new experimental reactors online by July 4, 2026 — 13 months from now — and invoke the Defense Production Act to allow emergency measures to ensure the U.S. has the reactor fuel needed for a modernized nuclear energy sector.

The administration is focused on boosting nuclear as “affordable, reliable, safe and secure power,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The executive orders send a signal that “America will build again,” Kratsios said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright echoed that sentiment on social media, posting that more reliable, secure and affordable energy sources — like geothermal, nuclear and natural gas — are the key to remaining the world’s energy powerhouse.

Trump has signed a spate of executive orders promoting oil, gas and coal that warm the planet when burned to produce electricity. Nuclear reactors generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. Trump said reactors are safe and clean, but did not mention climate benefits.

The order to reorganize the NRC will include significant staff reductions but is not intended to fire NRC commissioners who lead the agency. David Wright, a former South Carolina elected official and utility commissioner, chairs the five-member panel. His term ends June 30, and it is unclear if he will be reappointed.

Critics have trepidations

Critics say the White House moves could compromise safety and violate legal frameworks such as the Atomic Energy Act. Compromising the independence of the NRC or encouraging it to be circumvented entirely could weaken the agency and make regulation less effective, said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Simply put, the U.S. nuclear industry will fail if safety is not made a priority,” he said.

A number of countries are speeding up efforts to license and build a new generation of smaller nuclear reactors to meet a surging demand for electricity and supply it carbon-free. Last year, Congress passed legislation that former President Joe Biden signed to modernize the licensing of new reactor technologies so they can be built faster.

This month, the power company in Ontario, Canada, began building the first of four small nuclear reactors.

Valar Atomics is a nuclear reactor developer in California. Founder and CEO Isaiah Taylor said nuclear development and innovation in the United States has been slowed by too much red tape, while Russia and China are speeding ahead. He said he’s most excited about the mandate for the Energy Department to speed up the pace of innovation.

The NRC is currently reviewing applications from companies and a utility that want to build small nuclear reactors to begin providing power in the early 2030s. Currently, the NRC expects its reviews to take three years or less.

Radiant Nuclear is a clean energy startup based in El Segundo, California, that is building a nuclear microreactor. Chief Operating Officer Tori Shivanandan said the administration’s support for the advanced nuclear industry will help ensure its success, and the executive orders mark a “watershed moment” for nuclear power.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the company to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people, according to court papers filed Friday.

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The Justice Department said in a court filing that it had reached an “agreement in principle” that will require the company to pay and invest more than $1.1 billion. In return, the department will dismiss the criminal case against the aircraft manufacturer. The deal still needs to be finalized.

“The Agreement guarantees further accountability and substantial benefits from Boeing immediately, while avoiding the uncertainty and litigation risk presented by proceeding to trial,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in court papers.

Paul Cassell, an attorney for many of the families in the long-running case, had previously said said his clients strongly oppose dropping the criminal case.

“Dismissing the case would dishonor the memories of 346 victims who Boeing killed through its callous lies,” Cassell said in a recent statement.

Many relatives of the passengers who died in the crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, have spent years pushing for a public trial, the prosecution of former company officials, and more severe financial punishment for Boeing.

By JONEL ALECCIA, AP Health Writer

The supermarket chain Publix has recalled fruit and vegetable baby food sold in eight states because product testing found elevated levels of lead, according to federal health officials.

Publix recalled 4-ounce Greenwise Pear, Kiwi, Spinach & Pea Baby Food pouches sold at more than 1,400 stores.

The pouches were produced by Bowman Andros, a French company with a manufacturing plant in Mount Jackson, Virginia, according to the company’s website. Publix issued the voluntary recall on May 9, but it wasn’t added to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recall list until late Thursday.

The potential contamination was flagged by officials in North Carolina, the state that first identified a 2023 lead poisoning outbreak linked to tainted applesauce pouches that sickened more than 500 U.S. children.

Routine sampling of the baby food pouches found lead levels at 13.4 parts per billion, according to North Carolina agriculture officials. That exceeds the FDA’s recommended limit of 10 parts per billion for such products intended for babies and young children.

Publix said all the potentially contaminated products have been removed from store shelves. No illnesses have been reported, the company said. Customers can return the pouches to local stores for full refund.

This is the second baby food pouch recall because of potential lead contamination in two months. In March, Target recalled more than 25,000 packages of its store brand Good & Gather Baby Pea, Zucchini, Kale & Thyme Vegetable Puree because of elevated lead levels.

North Carolina collaborates with the FDA to conduct routine testing of food products, officials said.

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In 2023, state health officials investigated reports of lead poisoning in four children who consumed WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree. Those findings led to the detection of a nationwide outbreak linked to the pouches, which were widely sold in Dollar Tree and other stores. Tests showed they contained lead at levels 2,000 times higher than the FDA’s maximum recommended level, as well as chromium.

Federal health officials eventually identified 566 cases of confirmed, probable or suspected cases of lead poisoning tied to the pouches in 44 states.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s childhood lead poisoning program investigated the applesauce outbreak and coordinated state and federal response. However, the program was eliminated in April as part of federal funding cuts under the Trump administration.

CDC officials didn’t say whether or how the agency would respond to a similar outbreak now. A spokesperson said the agency is aware of the Publix baby food recall but hasn’t been asked to assist with any investigation.

There is no safe level of lead exposure, according to CDC. While the heavy metal is toxic to people of all ages, it can be especially harmful to children, causing damage to the brain and nervous system and slow growth and development.

Heavy metals like lead can get into food products from soil, air, water or industrial processes, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By JACK BROOK, Associated Press/Report for America

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — On days of heavy pollution in Sulphur, a southwest Louisiana town surrounded by more than 16 industrial plants, Cynthia “Cindy” Robertson once flew a red flag outside her home so her community knew they faced health hazards from high levels of soot and other pollutants.

But she stopped flying the flag after Louisiana passed a law last May that threatened fines of up to $1 million for sharing information about air quality that did not meet strict standards.

On Thursday, Robertson’s group Micah 6:8 Mission and other Louisiana environmental organizations sued the state in federal court over the law they say restricts their free speech and undermines their ability to promote public health in heavily industrialized communities.

When neighbors asked where the flags went, “I’d tell them, ’The state of Louisiana says we can’t tell y’all that stuff,’ ” Robertson said.

While the state has argued the law ensures that accurate data is shared with the public, environmental groups like Micah 6:8 Mission believed it was intended to censor them with “onerous restrictions” and violates their free speech rights, according to the lawsuit.

Despite having received Environmental Protection Agency funding to monitor Sulphur’s pollution using high quality air monitors for several years, Michah 6:8 Mission stopped posting data on the group’s social media after the law was signed last May, Robertson said.

Residents living near plants seek data

While federal law requires publicly disclosed monitoring of major pollutants, fence-line communities in Louisiana have long sought data on their exposure to hazardous and likely carcinogenic chemicals like chloroprene and ethylene oxide, which were not subject to these same regulations.

Under the Biden administration, the EPA tightened regulations for these pollutants, though the Trump administration has committed to rolling them back.

The Biden administration’s EPA also injected funding to support community-based air monitoring, especially in neighborhoods on the “fence-line” with industrial plants that emitted pollutants that they were not required to publicly monitor under federal law. Some groups say they lack confidence in the data the state does provide and embraced the chance to monitor the air themselves with federal funding.

“These programs help detect pollution levels in areas of the country not well served by traditional and costly air monitoring systems,” the lawsuit stated.

In response to the influx of grassroots air monitoring, Louisiana’s Legislature passed the Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act, or CAMRA, which requires that community groups that monitor pollutants “for the purpose of alleging violations or noncompliance” of federal law must follow EPA standards, including approved equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

David Cresson, president and CEO of the Louisiana Chemical Association, said that the law is intended to clarify that “regulatory and legal decisions” should be made with “scientifically validated methods that meet established EPA standards.”

David Bookbinder, director of law and policy at the Environmental Integrity Project, which represents the plaintiffs, disagreed.

“You can’t talk about air quality unless you’re using the equipment that they want you to use,” said He added there was no need for community groups to purchase such expensive equipment when cheaper technology could provide “perfectly adequate results … to be able to tell your community, your family, whether or not the air they’re breathing is safe.”

While Cresson said community groups could still monitor air with equipment “not certified for regulatory use” to raise awareness, environmental groups say the law makes any monitoring efforts vulnerable to litigation.

Community groups sharing information based on cheaper air monitoring equipment that did not meet these requirements could face penalties of $32,500 a day and up to $1 million for intentional violations, according to analysis from the Environmental Integrity Project.

Community groups fear a chilling effect from law

“We’re a small nonprofit, we couldn’t afford to pay one day’s worth of that,” Robertson said. “And the way the law is written, it’s so ambiguous, you don’t really know what you can and can’t do.”

There is no known instance in which the state has pursued these penalties, but community groups say the law has a chilling effect on their work.

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“The purpose of this was very clear: to silence the science, preventing people from doing anything with it, sharing it in any form,” said Caitlion Hunter, director of research and policy for Rise St. James, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“I’m not sure how regulating community air monitoring programs ‘violates their constitutional rights’,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill countered in a written statement.

“The goal of this law is not to silence community voices, but to ensure that regulatory action is based on high-quality, validated science,” Cresson said. “Community members are fully free to raise concerns, publish findings, and engage with the public or agencies to promote awareness.”

Industry groups are excluded from the law’s requirements, the lawsuit notes.

The law presumes “that air monitoring information lacks accuracy if disseminated by community air monitoring groups, but not by industry participants or the state,” the complaint states.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.