Ryan K. Lighty

Ryan regularly counsels clients on a range of complex issues associated with obtaining, amending, renewing, transferring, and terminating NRC licenses. He helps utilities and merchant power plant owners achieve sustainability, ESG, and climate change goals through nuclear plant license renewals and has advised on more than half of the subsequent license renewal (SLR) applications filed with the NRC to date.

Ryan also counsels clients on investments in companies and licensing of projects involving nuclear fusion, small modular reactors (SMRs), advanced reactors, and micro-reactors for both electricity generation and nontraditional uses, including production of hydrogen, medical isotopes, industrial process heat, and power for data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations. Ryan has advised current and potential investors, reactor technology vendors, project sponsors, and NRC applicants on regulatory requirements associated with construction permits, operating licenses, combined licenses (COLs), early site permits (ESPs), design certifications (DCs), and other regulatory pathways.

Ryan has successfully defended clients against a variety of technical, environmental, and financial claims in NRC adjudicatory hearings, including challenges associated with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), aging management programs (AMPs), and decommissioning funding. He also routinely guides clients on multifaceted regulatory compliance issues related to fitness-for-duty and work hour requirements, access authorization, firearms regulation, physical and cybersecurity, radiological decommissioning, decommissioning trust investments, nuclear insurance and liability issues, export controls, and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

Ryan also helps employers navigate government ethics restrictions applicable to current and former federal agency employees and provides assistance to clients regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and protection of trade secrets and confidential commercial information. Before joining Morgan Lewis, Ryan was a lawyer in the NRC’s Office of the General Counsel and served as acting regional counsel in the agency’s Region III office.

• Advised and represented multiple power reactor owners and operators in obtaining NRC Subsequent License Renewals (SLR) that will allow the units to continue producing carbon-free electricity from 60 to 80 years beyond their initial licensing dates.
• Advised and represented multiple applicants for SMR, advanced reactor, micro-reactor, and medical isotope facility licenses in various pre-application and application review activities and associated administrative litigation.
• Advised and represented a joint venture in obtaining an NRC license to construct and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Southwest Texas.
• Advised and represented current and prospective power reactor owners and operators in multiple transactions and NRC license transfer proceedings related to corporate restructuring, traditional sale transactions, and transfers to decommissioning vendors.