Impacts
Trump’s “Unleashing Atomic Power” is Unhinged
Without explanation, on June 16, 2025, President Trump unceremoniously fired Democrat Commissioner Christopher Hanson from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as the first senior manager causality initiating a slash and burn attack on commercial nuclear power regulatory oversight. Hanson’s second term of office was to have expired in 2029. Hanson’s abrupt removal follows a…
Read MoreFL nuke threatens Miami drinking water supply
Florida’s Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station Units 3 and 4 are back in the news with “Miami’s Drinking Water Is Threatened by a Florida Nuclear Plant,” Bloomberg News, June 6, 2025 but behind the paywall. It’s about the billions of gallons of water required to cool the large twin nuclear reactors that are located 25…
Read MoreThe St. Louis atomic bomb waste dump still sickens
It’s been 83 years and “We still don’t know what to do with the first cupful.” On June 2, 2025, WBUR Boston and National Public Radio (NPR) aired the “On Point” podcast regarding a decades old environmental justice struggle, “The long-term effects of nuclear waste in St. Louis.” Kay Drey, a St. Louis, Missouri environmentalist,…
Read MoreWe can’t have both healthier children and nukes
According to The New York Times, a new Trump Administration Executive Order (EO) urges the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) “to reconsider its safety limits for radiation exposure, saying that current limits are too strict and go beyond what is needed to protect human health.” And yet, studies already show increases in childhood cancers, including leukemia…
Read MorePresident Trump to unleash atomic power
On May 14, 2025, E&ENews updated reports on President Donald Trump’s four “pre-decisional” White House Executive Orders to radically alter the historic role of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) to oversee the performance of reactor design safety reviews and the regulatory approval of reactor siting, construction and operation of commercial atomic power plants. In…
Read MoreA tar pit awaits Santee Cooper’s RFP applicants
The South Carolina Public Service Authority, also known as Santee Cooper electric, has announced that it has closed its January 22, 2025 “Request For Proposals” (RFP) to gauge the potential interest of any new buyers to resume the financing and construction of the abandoned V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 nuclear power project with nearly…
Read MoreGOP states sue NRC to deregulate SMR licensing
The GOP governors and their respective offices of state attorneys general (in one case the top GOP state legislators) in Texas, Utah, Florida, Louisiana, and Arizona have joined together with a number of fledgling nuclear start-up companies still in the design development phase for new, unproven small modular reactors (SMR) in a lawsuit filed in…
Read MoreWEBINAR: What nuclear boosters won’t tell you about radiation
In Their Rush to Expand, Nuclear Interests Ignore and Suppress Evidence of Radiation’s Harms, Including Worse Impacts on Women and Children Gender + Radiation Impact Project will host a webinar on February 20 at 12 PM ET, featuring leading experts on the impacts of radiation from nuclear technologies. Cindy Folkers, author and radiation and health…
Read MoreCA wildfires: a warning to NRC on climate change
US Government Accountability Office warnings to Nuclear Regulatory Commission go unheeded For nuclear power plants, fire is considered a very significant contributor to the overall reactor core damage frequency (CDF), or the risk of a meltdown. Fire at a nuclear power station can be initiated by both external and/or internal events. It can start with…
Read MoreGender and radiation: New report shows girls most at-risk group
A new United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) report by Amanda M. Nichols — Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara and Mary Olson — Founder, Gender and Radiation Impact Project entitled Gender and Ionizing Radiation: Towards a New Research Agenda Addressing Disproportionate Harm examines recent research correlating harm from exposure to ionizing radiation…
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