President Donald Trump fired Christopher Hanson, a Democratic member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the latest in a series of removals of independent regulators that has led to legal controversy.

Hanson said in a statement Monday that Trump “terminated my position with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission without cause, contrary to existing law and long-standing precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees.”

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Hanson is the first commissioner fired from the NRC since it was created in 1975.

The action follows Trump’s executive order to reform the five-member commission, which faulted the NRC for failing to approve commercial reactors in recent decades. The Trump administration has sought to accelerate the buildout of nuclear power.

“All organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told NPR via email. “President Trump reserves the right to remove employees within his own Executive Branch who exert his executive authority.”

Hanson was appointed during Trump’s first term and reappointed in 2024. His term was set to expire in 2029.

Trump has been criticized for firing the commissioners of independent agencies. Earlier this year, Trump fired the Federal Trade Commission commissioners, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Both commissioners have filed a lawsuit against the administration, claiming the president overreached.

Last month, Trump fired three Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioners: Richard Trumka Jr., Mary Boyle, and Alexander Hoehn-Saric. The commissioners have also filed a lawsuit against the administration for firings without cause.

In May, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to remove members of independent regulatory agencies.

“Congress explicitly created the NRC as an independent agency, insulated from the whims of any president, knowing that was the only way to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the American people,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said in a statement.

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Last month, Trump signed four executive orders meant to bolster nuclear power in the U.S. by streamlining nuclear reactor testing and licensing. The orders set a goal of expanding nuclear energy capacity from around 100 gigawatts to 400 gigawatts by 2050.