Some scientists and former regulators are warning that Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to fast-track advanced nuclear reactor designs already authorized and tested by the Department of Energy could endanger public health.
The addendum to the memorandum of understanding between the two agencies, signed in October and published Monday, says NRC reviews of DOE-approved reactors will focus only on new risks or safety issues, such as any later design changes.
“This represents yet another dangerous slide away from independent safety regulation by essentially relegating the NRC to a subservient position to the Department of Energy,” said Edwin Lyman, the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “This is a hollowing out of the independent regulation of nuclear safety that the country has previously been protected by.”
Congress entrusted the NRC with overseeing the regulation of civilian nuclear facilities in 1974 while assigning nuclear research to DOE.
