Senate and House Democratic appropriators seek more clarity from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Chair Ho Nieh on the recent overarching changes at the agency initiated by President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14300.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), respective ranking members of the Senate and House Energy and Water Development Appropriations subcommittees, said in a Sept. 18 letter that NRC’s changes, particularly its proposed rulemaking on radiation standard protections, have warranted many questions from Congress. This letter comes after the two Democratic lawmakers also asked the Department of Energy for answers about recent changes at its nuclear sites.
Kaptur and Murray requested that Nieh and NRC respond and provide information on several areas of concerns, particularly the 17 listed in the letter, within 15 days of receiving the letter.
NRC has undergone an extensive wholesale revision of its regulations, processes and organizational structure as ordered by the May 2025 executive order. According to the letter, NRC has released “47 regulations, 27 rulemakings, and 71 guidance documents” and also updated its Reactor Oversight Process and security program in an effort to reform the independent agency.
“We support efforts to ensure that the NRC’s regulatory framework is efficient, risk-informed, and capable of supporting the safe and secure deployment of nuclear energy,” the letter said. “However, the breadth of the changes currently underway raises significant questions about whether the NRC has adequately evaluated the cumulative effects of these reforms on nuclear safety, security, independent oversight, and public confidence.”
Of the many changes at NRC, Kaptur and Murray keyed in on NRC’s proposed rulemaking to remove the “as low as reasonably achievable” (ALARA) principle from its regulations. NRC plans to implement a graded approach to dose management based on defined thresholds. The rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on July 15 and racked up over 2,000 public comments.
Nieh and NRC have defended the rulemaking several times, saying that it will bring clarity to radiation protection standards without compromising safety. Outside Kaptur and Murray’s concerns with the rulemaking, it has garnered much opposition from Democratic state attorneys general and environmental groups.