Seven reactors appeared in three NRC filings published in the Federal Register on 8 and 9 October 2026: four AP1000 units for Fermi America in Texas, one BWRX-300 for Blue Energy in Texas, and two SMR-300 units for Holtec at Palisades in Michigan. Read together they look like a surge in US nuclear licensing. Read one by one they sit at three very different stages, and only one of them has an environmental review that recommends a licence.
The count of seven overstates near term certainty. The Fermi America project is 16 months into a combined licence review and has a draft environmental impact statement out for comment, the Holtec project was docketed in February after a 58 day wait, and the Blue Energy filing is a first part that the NRC has received and not yet docketed. The useful comparison is the stage of each, not the number of units.
Fermi America: four AP1000s and a recommendation to issue
On 9 October the NRC published a draft environmental impact statement for the combined licence application covering four AP1000 pressurized water reactors, Project Matador Nuclear Units 1 to 4, in Carson County, Texas, adjacent to the Department of Energy’s Pantex Plant. Comments are open until 23 November 2026. The staff’s preliminary recommendation is that the NRC issue the licence, contingent on a successful safety review and unless safety issues mandate otherwise.
The record explains the pace. Fermi America submitted the initial portion of its application on 17 June 2025, a second submittal with non site specific technical chapters followed on 20 August 2025, and the NRC acknowledged the application and the applicant’s commitment to a pilot programme on 5 September 2025. Under that pilot the draft environmental impact statement is prepared by the applicant under NRC supervision. The scoping notice appeared on 20 March 2026, and the draft was signed on 5 October 2026, about 475 days after the first submittal.
Holtec: two SMR-300 units, docketed in 58 days
Holtec filed the first part of a phased construction permit application for a dual unit SMR-300 plant, Pioneer Units 1 and 2 at the Palisades site in Covert, Michigan, on 31 December 2025. The filing includes a limited work authorization request, three exemption requests and a comprehensive environmental report that covers the early works, the remainder of construction and operation. The NRC accepted it for docketing on 27 February 2026, 58 days later, and is now publishing notices of receipt each week for four consecutive weeks from 1 October as 10 CFR 50.43(a)(3) requires. The notice of 8 October is the second.
Blue Energy: a first part, and 18 months to the rest
Blue Energy filed Part 1 of a phased construction permit application on 15 September 2026 for a single BWRX-300 at Victoria, Texas, 23 days before the Federal Register notice. Part 1 holds a limited work authorization request under 10 CFR 50.10(d), two exemption requests, an environmental report and parts of the preliminary safety analysis report. The company says it will file the full construction permit application no later than 18 months after Part 1, which puts the outside date around 15 March 2028. The NRC has not yet found the filing acceptable for docketing, and later notices will cover that.
Three routes through the same agency
The two phased filings use the route set out in 10 CFR 2.101(a)(9) and 2.600(d), which lets an applicant seek early construction approval before the full permit application exists. Fermi America is on the combined licence route, which carries construction and operating authority in one application. Under the phased route the limited work authorization request covers certain early construction activities, and the full permit application follows later.
The federal record adds a context point on schedule: the NRC’s recent permit for the TVA’s Clinch River small reactor came well ahead of its own timetable, as reported on 1 October, and the BWRX-300 that Blue Energy proposes is the same design behind the European fleet plan that rests on a $5.6 billion first unit.
The checks are dated. Comments on the Fermi America draft are due on 23 November 2026, the remaining Holtec notices should follow in the coming weeks, a docketing decision on Blue Energy has no date, and the full Blue Energy application is due by about March 2028. Sources: Federal Register notices 2026-20742 (Fermi America), 2026-20678 (Blue Energy) and 2026-20626 (Holtec).
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