Until the Dept. of Energy approved of the NASA Kilopower fission reactor (~1kW, a couple years ago) they had not ever (ever!) approved of a new nuclear reactor

Until the Dept. of Energy approved of the NASA Kilopower fission reactor (~1kW, a couple years ago) they had not ever (ever!) approved of a new nuclear reactor design. All currently operating US nuclear reactor designs were approved by the Atomic Energy Comission, an agency that hasn't existed for 45 years. The Dept. of Energy simply isn't interested in doing it's job. They will not approve new nuclear reactor designs or create new regulations to make building safer nuclear reactor designs feasible economically or legally.