The board includes representatives from the nation's 27 nuclear utilities, plant designers, architect/engineering firms and fuel cycle companies.

It has been charged with blatant misrepresentations in the CEO advertising campaign by the Safe Energy Communications Council (SECC).

In 2006, NEI founded the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy) to help build local support around the country for new nuclear construction.

The co-chairs of the coalition are early Greenpeace member Patrick Moore and former United States Environmental Protection Agency Secretary and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

However, as many of these individuals have little experience in opinion writing for a non-technical audience, the agency provides assistance if requested, a common industry practice.

In 1999, Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission[13] charging that an NEI advertising campaign overstated the environmental benefits of nuclear energy to consumers living in markets where sales of electricity had been deregulated.

In a ruling the following December, the FTC rejected those claims concluding: NEI did not violate the law; agreed that the advertisements were directed to policymakers and opinion leaders in forums that principally reach those who set national policy on energy and environmental issues, and therefore did not constitute "commercial speech"; noted that in different circumstances, such as direct marketing of electricity, such advertising could be considered commercial speech and be subject to stricter substantiation.

NEI ran other ads with similar content, most recently one released in September 2006[14] touting nuclear energy's non-emitting character and the role it can play in reducing American dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas.

[16] In 2012, NEI quoted Kathyrn Higley, professor of radiation health physics in the department of nuclear engineering at Oregon State University, who described the health impact of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident to be "really, really minor", adding that "the Japanese government was able to effectively block a large component of exposure in this population".

NEI utilizes the National Nuclear Energy Strategy which has four main points that they want to hit when guiding policy: preserve, sustain, innovate, and thrive.

Some of the main advantages that NEI states are the benefits in climate, national security, sustainable development, infrastructure, and air quality.