Nuclear regulators remove requirement to keep radiation as low as possible

The Trump administration is proposing to roll back long-standing radiation safety requirements for nuclear power plants, arguing the changes would reduce regulatory burdens and help accelerate a revival of the U.S. nuclear industry.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday unveiled proposed changes to its radiation protection regulations that would eliminate the decades-old requirement to keep radiation exposure “as low as reasonably achievable,” which requires radiation levels to be minimized even when they fall below federal limits.

Instead, the agency said it wants to simplify regulations by reducing “subjectivity and unnecessary burden on applicants and licensees and to increase flexibility associated with the licensing and use of nuclear technology,” while providing greater flexibility for licensing and operating nuclear technology “without reducing the standard for safety.”

The NRC is “raising the standard for regulatory clarity, not lowering the standard for safety,” NRC Chair Ho Nieh said in a statement.

The commission said the proposal would maintain “reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety.”

The proposal comes as the Trump administration pursues an aggressive expansion of nuclear power. In May 2025, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders intended to speed reactor construction, streamline federal approvals, and expand domestic nuclear energy production to help meet rising electricity demand driven in part by artificial intelligence.

Trump has set a goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear generating capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050. The administration has also touted recent progress by the Department of Energy, which announced it met Trump’s Fourth of July target of bringing three advanced small modular reactors to criticality, the point at which a reactor’s nuclear chain reaction becomes self-sustaining and capable of producing power.

The NRC operates as an independent agency, although its five-member commission currently has a 3-2 majority of Republican-appointed commissioners. Trump removed the former NRC chairman on Inauguration Day. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled that the president has the authority to remove commissioners from independent agencies in certain circumstances.