PNN – Donald Trump’s administration has made “secret” changes to US nuclear safety laws that are not public knowledge.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, American media reported on Thursday that the administration of US President Donald Trump has reviewed a number of nuclear safety guidelines and has notified companies that are organizing their activities without disclosing the new rules to the public.
According to National Public Radio (NPR), the Trump administration has reviewed a number of nuclear safety guidelines and shared them with companies that need to regulate their operations, without releasing the new rules to the public.
The report notes that “these sweeping changes are aimed at accelerating the development of a new generation of nuclear reactor designs and were implemented over the fall and winter at the Department of Energy, which is currently overseeing a program to build at least three experimental nuclear reactors by July 4 of this year.”
According to the American media outlet, the changes include ministerial orders that define operational requirements for almost all aspects of the reactors, including safety systems, environmental protection and site security.
NPR has obtained copies of more than a dozen new orders, none of which are publicly available. The orders would cut hundreds of pages of safety requirements for reactors. They would also reduce groundwater and environmental protections and eliminate at least one key safety role. The new orders reduce record-keeping requirements and increase the amount of radiation a worker can be exposed to before a formal investigation into the incident begins.
According to an NPR analysis, more than 750 pages have been removed from previous versions of these orders, leaving only about a third of the number of pages in the original documents.