Public Policy & Engagement

This summer, two American Nuclear Society student members were supported by the Society in the Washington Internship for Students of Engineering (WISE) Program.

Those student members were Bradford Arnold and Blake Bird, each of whom had the opportunity to spend nine weeks in Washington, D.C., learning about the complex intersection between technology and policy.

In recent weeks, states around the nation have taken various steps forward in the development of their nuclear sectors, including in Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, and Utah. Read on for a roundup of events.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a change to how it will approach standards for radiation protections, notably including the elimination of the “as low as reasonably achievable” (ALARA) principle. The proposed change was published in the Federal Register on July 15, and yesterday the agency held a public meeting on the topic.

In the meeting, Mike Franovich, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, gave a presentation summarizing the changes, and NRC staff answered questions from participants. The meeting facilitator, Lance Rakovan, described it as a “very popular meeting,” drawing more than 550 participants, and the NRC staff was unable to address all questions in the scheduled time.