As Trump boosts nuclear power, regulators seek to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety rule

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As Trump boosts nuclear power, regulators seek to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety rule

[html]Cooling tower three with one and two in the background operate at the nuclear reactor facility at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, May 31, 2024, in Waynesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

2026-07-26T13:00:25Z

                                       

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to eliminate a foundational safety principle that has for 50 years minimized the radiation people in the United States are exposed to and that has been adopted around the world.

Currently, facilities such as nuclear plants, hospitals or academic institutions that use radioactive materials must ensure radiation exposures are kept “as low as reasonably achievable” — the ALARA principle. The NRC proposal would abandon that philosophy while keeping a separate standard on maximum radiation exposure.

The two standards have worked together in radiation safety. Dose limits set the maximum amount of radiation the public and radiation workers can be exposed to, while ALARA kept radiation exposure as low as practical under those limits. Research shows         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-health-effects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">radiation exposure increases a person’s chance of getting cancer, a risk that increases as the dose increases.

   
       




   



   
       
   

The dose limits are not changing. But the NRC, which regulates civilian nuclear energy technologies and radioactive materials, now wants to replace ALARA with a “graded approach” that includes several actions facilities must take depending on the potential dose of radiation to workers. More rigorous radiation protection measures would be required when approaching dose limits to ensure they aren’t exceeded.

           
               
                   

   

       
   


       

       
     
   

   
   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   
       
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President Donald Trump holds an executive order regarding reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base in the Oval Office of the White House, May 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

               
           
       
       
   

   
   
   


               
           
       

This comes as President Donald Trump attempts to         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/new-nuclear-reactors-trump-e7394fe688d2132a73f67f59bdbe792a">quadruple domestic nuclear energy production because of surging electricity demand amid a data center and artificial intelligence boom. Reforming the NRC is one way Trump is trying to speed up nuclear reactor development. He instructed the federal agency in an executive order last year to “         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/29/2025-09798/ordering-the-reform-of-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adopt science-based radiation limits.”

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.

   
       
           
               
                   
   
   


   

 

 
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NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said the commission is not lowering the bar on safety.

   
       
   

“We’re just removing the ambiguity,” he said in a call with reporters. “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.

Without ALARA, could radiation doses creep closer to the limits?

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.

“We will always continue to look at what can we do to reduce the dose to workers, and maintain our doses to the off-site public as low as possible,” said Doug True, chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute. “It’s not like we’re just going to throw open the doors and let everything run up to the limits.”

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, he added.

   
       
   

Some experts question the wisdom of eliminating ALARA

           
               
                   

   

       
   


       

       
     
   

   
   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   
       
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The four nuclear reactors and cooling towers operate at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, May 31, 2024, in Waynesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)