Photo: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons (file photo; Vogtle equipment delivery in 2013, not related to the GAO workforce review) (source)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shed a net of roughly 500 employees between July 2024 and June 2026 and has barely tapped hiring tools Congress added in 2024, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.
GAO reported that voluntary retirements accounted for most of the decline. Agency officials and a majority of outside stakeholders interviewed by the auditors said resignations and competition with private employers have tightened NRC’s staffing in recent years.
The review comes as elected officials push to grow U.S. nuclear generation and as NRC expects more filings to license advanced reactors, GAO wrote. The commission licenses civilian reactors, inspects facilities and oversees nuclear materials.
New hiring powers mostly unused
A 2024 statute commonly called the ADVANCE Act gave NRC three extra personnel tools: faster direct hiring, more flexible pay, and bonuses for recruiting and performance, according to GAO.
From July 2024 through July 2026, the agency used only the bonus authority, paying $335,000 in performance awards to 18 employees, and did not exercise direct-hire or pay-flexibility powers, the auditors found. Officials told GAO a reorganization and unfinished work on a new strategic workforce planning system were reasons for holding back.
Completion of that planning system has slipped several times and is now targeted for the opening quarter of FY2027, GAO said. Until then, the report warned, NRC may struggle to aim the ADVANCE Act tools where licensing and oversight need them most.
By July 2026 the agency had a plan to use the authorities but still lacked metrics to test whether they fix hiring and retention gaps, GAO found. Officials and most stakeholders agreed the law adds useful flexibility, yet many doubted those tools alone would close the shortfall, the report said.
Why auditors reviewed the agency
Section 502 of the ADVANCE Act ordered GAO to measure how far NRC has applied the new workforce powers. Auditors examined the statute and internal documents, reviewed staffing data, and interviewed NRC officials plus representatives from 10 nuclear industry and policy groups, the report said. The stakeholder sample was not designed to be statistically generalizable.
What's next
GAO recommended that the NRC chair order staff to finish the planning tool, known as NEXUS, on the FY2027 Q1 schedule, and to create metrics that show whether current authorities meet workforce needs. Both recommendations were listed as open. GAO said it will update their status after confirming the agency’s response.
Sources
- U.S. Government Accountability Office: Nuclear Power: Actions Needed to Improve NRC’s Assessment of Its Workforce Needs (2026-09-28)
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