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Trump Administration to Lower Radiation Safety Standards
Oh, noez! If it isn't one "nuclear" scare, it's another. Anything to stop or slow down the development of new, much safer SMR (small modular nuclear reactors) and catch up the current and future energy/electricity supply with energy/electricity needs.
New regs don't affect safety or dosage limits, they just provide better clarity for developers by removing legal ambiguities of ALARA ("as low as reasonably achievable"), which should significantly speed up the R&D designs and testing.
Stated even simpler it wouldn't ever affect anyone not working on or near reactors, i.e., the scientists who know better what is and isn't safe and wouldn't jeopardize their lives or health.
apnews.com - AP, 2026-07-26
|------- ... The Energy Department, which oversees national energy policies, has already stopped using ALARA. The NRC expects to finalize its radiation protection regulations in the coming months.
NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said the commission is not lowering the bar on safety.
"We're just removing the ambiguity. But the standard for exposure to workers and the public, those are not changing. We're just putting in place greater clarification."
Nieh doesn't expect major changes within the nation's existing fleet of large, traditional reactors. But companies designing and building new, smaller reactors could move faster with a clearer picture of the radiation protection requirements, he said.
The NRC said radiation exposure limits are set well below levels associated with health effects, and it expects remaining standards and industry practices to keep radiation doses far below the limits. There's incentive to do so - it's more expensive and time-consuming to work in areas with higher radiation because access must be restricted and more surveys are required.
The nuclear industry's trade association agrees with the NRC. ...
ALARA created a "moving target" for regulation, said Justin Friedman, a nuclear energy consultant who previously spent three decades at the U.S. Department of State. Getting rid of the rule would allow NRC scientists to make more rational decisions about appropriate levels of manageable risk ...
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Much ado about nothing. Making mountains out of molehills whenever something "nuclear" is mentioned.
BTW, Biden's Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo (who, IMO, would be a great candidate for President/VP in 2028) emphasized the importance and promoted the collaborative development of nuclear and hydrogen energy.
Or we can keep listening to notable "climate scientists" like Jane Fonda and Greta Thunberg et al, that impeded development (and/or were pushing a phase-out) of one of the cleanest and safest energy solutions in the USA, while China, Russia and few other countries went full speed ahead with nuclear deployment.
www.realclearenergy.org - Jane Fonda's Views on Nuclear Energy Are Stuck in the 1970s - RCN, 2024-10-17
www.latimes.com - Jane Fonda's anti-nuclear arguments don't make sense - 2024-10-08
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