For decades, U.S. radiation protection has rested on two pillars: the linear no-threshold (LNT) model and the principle of “as low as reasonably achievable” (ALARA). Together, these have shaped occupational dose management, regulatory limits, and emergency planning across the nuclear industry.

Continuing its breakneck pace of introducing new rules and proposals, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week announced that it was proposing to amend its regulations under 10 CFR Part 61 governing the land disposal of low-level radioactive waste.

The proposed rule, which introduces a new risk-informed framework for LLW disposal in which sites can develop waste acceptance criteria based on site-specific characteristics, is one of several rules the NRC is seeking to finalize and issue in response to Executive Order 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

In 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14300, “‘Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” which directs the NRC to conduct a sweeping, multifaceted overhaul of its structure, culture, and regulations with the aim of facilitating increased deployment of new nuclear technologies and capacity.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's launching of its environmental review of Holtec International's two SMR-300 reactors at the Palisades site in Michigan and its proposed changes to fuel cycle and materials licensing regulations may have grabbed the most attention recently, but the agency has also announced multiple other updates in recent weeks.

Attendees at last week’s 2026 Regulatory Information Conference, hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, saw extensive discussion of new reactor technologies, uprates, fusion, multiunit deployments, supply chain, and much more.

With the industry in a state of rapid evolution, there was much to discuss. Connected to all these topics was one central theme: the ongoing changes at the NRC. With massively shortened timelines, the ADVANCE Act and Executive Order 14300, and new interagency collaboration and authorization pathways in mind, speakers spent much of the RIC exploring what the road ahead looks like for the NRC.

In April, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14270, “Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy,” which calls for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (along with the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency) to issue a “sunset rule” to effectively nullify certain regulations in no more than five years.

Dewji

Bahadori

Caffrey

Three authorities on health physics have written a response to President Trump’s Executive Order 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

Published June 27 on Substack, “Radiation Protection Policy in a Nuclear Era: Recommendations from Health Physicists in Response to EO 14300” was written by Emily A. Caffrey, assistant professor and director of the Health Physics Program at the University of Alabama–Birmingham; Amir A. Bahadori, associate professor at Kansas State University; and Shaheen A. Dewji, assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.