The strength of the United States’ voice in upholding international safety, security, and nonproliferation
standards is directly correlated with the robustness and health of its domestic commercial nuclear industry.
As the U.S. commercial industry declines, so does the power of U.S. leadership in setting global nuclear
governance norms. Players such as Russia and China are quickly assuming the mantle of leadership that the
U.S. once held. Nuclear power also has important ramifications for U.S. energy security—a requisite for
national security—and there are close synergies and interrelationships between the U.S. commercial
industry and the U.S. naval reactor program and the DoD/NNSA weapons complex.
