Uncle Sam Offers Nuclear Campuses to States Amid Safety Rule Rollbacks

United States - Ekhbary News Agency

Uncle Sam Offers Nuclear Campuses to States Amid Safety Rule Rollbacks

The Department of Energy (DOE) is extending an ambitious offer to U.S. states, proposing the establishment of "Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses" designed to reinvigorate the nation's atomic power industry. This initiative, however, is unfolding against a backdrop of concerning reports suggesting that the agency has significantly weakened the safety regulations that govern the operations of nuclear facilities. This juxtaposition of promoting nuclear expansion while potentially compromising safety standards has ignited a critical debate about the administration's priorities.

The DOE formally issued a Request for Information (RFI) on Wednesday, soliciting responses from states interested in hosting these campuses. These proposed sites are envisioned to function as a "full-cycle nuclear ecosystem," encompassing crucial aspects of the nuclear fuel lifecycle. Practically, this means the campuses would be equipped to handle atomic waste reprocessing and disposal, alongside fuel fabrication and enrichment. Furthermore, they might serve as locations for nuclear reactors, potentially co-located with data centers powered by them, highlighting the integral role of nuclear energy in supporting burgeoning technological advancements like artificial intelligence.

These developments align with reporting from the news outlet Politico last week, which detailed discussions within the Trump administration regarding plans to allocate substantial funding, potentially "billions, if not hundreds of billions," towards developing a domestic nuclear fuel cycle program. The objective is to accelerate the construction of new nuclear reactors. While the DOE denied these specific reports at the time, the unveiling of the "Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses" initiative lends credence to the broader narrative of a push for nuclear expansion.

States are encouraged to express their interest in hosting these potential campuses by April 1 and to provide feedback on the necessary incentives and support. In return, the DOE is seeking information on strategies that prioritize private capital and state-level funding, with federal support intended to be time-limited. The agency also requires "robust financial assurances" to shield federal taxpayers from potentially open-ended liabilities, indicating a desire to avoid assuming the financial burden should projects encounter severe issues.

Last year, the DOE identified ten companies with which it would collaborate to test and fast-track advanced reactor projects. This effort operates outside the purview of the agency's national laboratories, consistent with President Trump's "Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program." California Representative Mike Levin has publicly supported the new scheme, characterizing it as a "meaningful and long-overdue step" toward managing spent nuclear fuel. He stated that these campuses could offer significant economic and job creation benefits, supporting key functions across the nuclear fuel lifecycle.

However, a critical counterpoint has emerged from a report by the non-profit media organization NPR. This report alleges that the DOE has, in secret, rewritten nuclear safety directives, substantially diluting the existing rules. These revisions are reportedly aimed at streamlining the development of next-generation nuclear reactors, a priority for the Trump administration seeking to ensure ample power for new AI data centers and to meet growing electricity demands across various sectors.

According to NPR's findings, hundreds of pages of security requirements for reactors have been eliminated, and record-keeping mandates have been reduced. The threshold for radiation exposure triggering an official accident investigation has been raised, and environmental protections, particularly concerning groundwater, have been weakened. For instance, the requirement to protect groundwater has been downgraded from a "must" to a directive for companies to give "consideration" to "avoiding or minimizing" radioactive contamination.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an advocacy group, has strongly criticized these reported changes. Dr. Edwin Lyman, the UCS's director of nuclear power safety, stated, "This deeply troubling development confirms my worst fears about the dire state of nuclear power safety and security oversight under the Trump administration." He added, "The Energy Department has not only taken a sledgehammer to the basic principles that underlie effective nuclear regulation, but it has also done so in the shadows, keeping the public in the dark." Lyman emphasized that these regulations were painstakingly developed over decades, incorporating lessons learned from catastrophic events like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The UCS also points out that while new reactor designs must still obtain licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for commercial operation, the NRC has reportedly agreed to narrow the scope of its additional safety and security reviews for facilities that have received DOE authorization. This inter-agency agreement raises further questions about the robustness of oversight and the commitment to maintaining stringent safety protocols in the pursuit of nuclear energy expansion.

Ekhbary News Agency