Nuclear power plants can now use new engineering standards without special permission

US nuclear regulators just made it easier for nuclear power plants to use updated engineering standards. Plants can now voluntarily adopt new methods for building and maintaining components, without needing individual approval for each change.

For decades, nuclear power plants had to follow very specific engineering rules, often requiring special waivers to use newer, more efficient, or safer methods. This change means that as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers updates its codes, nuclear plants can adopt them more quickly. This could speed up maintenance, upgrades, and potentially the deployment of new reactor designs that rely on modern engineering practices.