NPR ~ DOE Secretly Changed Nuclear Safety Rules

• Trump administration secretly made sweeping changes to nuclear safety rules : National Public Radio

The Trump administration has overhauled a set of nuclear safety directives and shared them with the companies it is charged with regulating, without making the new rules available to the public, according to documents obtained and reported exclusively by NPR reporter Geoff Brumfiel. The NPR report aired on 01/28/2026.

According to the NPR report, the sweeping changes were made in secret to accelerate the development of a new generation of nuclear reactor designs. They occurred over the fall and winter at the Department of Energy, which is currently overseeing a program to build at least three new experimental commercial nuclear reactors by July 4th of this year.

According to the DOE documents, the Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules to accelerate the development of a new generation of reactors. The overhaul centers on the DOE Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to have at least three experimental reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026.

Note to Readers The NPR article is quite long and the web page version is interrupted frequently by large graphics and advertising. Frankly, it is a problem to get through some of the digital clutter. This blog post is a summary of the excellent NPR article. This summary is in brieifng form based on the use of Google Gemini Pro to condense the content for a quicker read.

Key Regulatory Changes

NPR’s key finding is that the administration has overhauled departmental “orders,” which govern reactor operations but do not require the public notice and comment periods mandated for federal regulations. NPR’s analysis shows a reduction of over 750 pages across more than a dozen orders, leaving only about one-third of the original material.

Removal of ALARA Standard: The “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” principle, a decades-old standard for minimizing radiation exposure, has been eliminated from the new orders. This change may allow for less concrete shielding and longer worker shifts.

Security Reductions: Seven security directives totaling over 500 pages were consolidated into a single 23-page order. Removed requirements include detailed firearms training, emergency drills, and limits on security officer work hours.

Engineering Oversight: The requirement for a cognizant system engineer—a designated individual responsible for each critical safety system—has been eliminated.

Environmental Protections: The requirement to use “best available technology” to protect water supplies was removed. Language regarding radioactive discharges into sewers was softened from “prohibited” to “should be avoided”.

Waste Management: A 59-page manual on radioactive waste was replaced by a 25-page order, stripping detailed requirements for waste packaging and monitoring.

Implementation and Governance

NPR reports that DOE is utilizing its authority to self-regulate research reactors, bypassing the independent and more rigorous Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The “Concierge Team”: Each of the 10 private companies involved (including those backed by Amazon, Google, and Meta) has access to a team of senior officials reporting directly to the Secretary of Energy.

Staffing: Approximately 30 DOE experts and 12 experts on loan from the NRC are currently conducting design and safety reviews for 11 reactor designs using these new rules.

Operational Efficiency: The DOE maintains these changes “reduce unnecessary regulations” and “increase innovation” without compromising safety.

Key Technical Implications

Design & Shielding: The removal of ALARA may lead to reactors being built with significantly less concrete shielding to save on construction costs.

Regulatory Conflict: Legal experts suggest that by softening “prohibited” language to “should be avoided,” the DOE may inadvertently lead companies to violate standing federal laws like the Clean Water Act.

Security Risk: Experts like Edwin Lyman told NPR that reducing security to “bullet points” is particularly dangerous for small modular reactors (SMRs) using high assay low enriched fuel (HALEU which are attractive targets for theft.

Lyman clarified in a comment to Neutron Bytes, “Although HALEU is a Category II material, unlike Category I HEU, my own work has indicated that HALEU is a potential direct-use material in sufficient quantity and thus poses greater security risks than its current classification would suggest.”

Erosion of Public Trust: Former NRC Chair Christopher Hanson and other experts argue that changing safety standards in secret undermines the public confidence necessary for nuclear expansion.

Regulatory Ambiguity: Experts warn that removing explicit requirements may actually complicate compliance and lead to inadvertent violations of statutes like the Clean Water Act.

Theft Risk: Critics note that several new designs use higher levels of enriched uranium, making the reduction in physical security requirements particularly concerning.

Who Benefits from These Changes?

NPR notes that 11 companies are relying heavily on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program, which bypasses traditional NRC regulatory requirements and timelines to reach criticality by July 4, 2026.

Financial Backing: Amazon and Google are major private investors in the reactor designs undergoing secret safety rule rewrites.

SMR Focus: The tech sector is specifically targeting Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) because they can be mass-produced and placed closer to data center clusters than traditional large-scale plants.

Current Site Progress

Idaho National Laboratory (INL): Several reactors, including those by Oklo and Aalo Atomics, are slated for construction here under the new streamlined DOE orders.

Pike County, Ohio: The site of a former uranium enrichment plant now being repurposed by Oklo to support Meta’s data centers. Meta is investing in 6 GW of nuclear generating capacity to power it AI systems.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Kairos Power currently has construction underway on the Hermes 2 reactor foundations. Google has an ageement with Kairos for the firm to build its advanced reactors to power the search engine’s AI programs.

Prior Coverage on this Blog

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