The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing to change a foundational rule designed to minimize radiation exposure. The update is part of President Trump's expansive changes to nuclear oversight, as his administration seeks to revive nuclear energy to power data centers for artificial intelligence.

Under a new proposed rule, the agency is eliminating a 50-year-old standard known as "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" (ALARA), which requires the nuclear industry to drive radiation exposure for workers and the public below the stated limits where possible. The new rule also creates a carveout for some workers to get higher exposures to radiation in special circumstances. //

For some, the elimination of ALARA is overdue. "Keeping doses as low as reasonably achievable was a fair idea," said Emily Caffrey, a radiation health physicist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But in practice, the standard forced companies to take increasingly stringent radiation protection measures. It also created ambiguity, Caffrey said, "because what's 'reasonable' to one person isn't reasonable to another person."

But others warn that the change could lay the groundwork for higher radiation exposures.

"Removing it would remove that incentive for these companies to continue to maintain the practices that protected their workers and the public," said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a watchdog group.

The public comment period for the new rule ends Aug. 31. It could go into effect early next year. //

The NRC decided not to change its scientific model of radiation risk, known as the Linear No Threshold model, but it has proposed eliminating ALARA.

Speaking this week on the Federal News Network, NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said that ALARA is no longer working. //

The proposed NRC rule doesn't change its other regulatory limits, but it does create some carve-outs. In particular, the industry would now be able to ask for a "planned occupational dose limit extension," which would allow workers to receive 10 rem instead of 5 in any given year, providing their overall exposure doesn't pass 25 rem in a five-year period. //

But Lyman, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, thinks that ALARA should stay. He said while it may be imperfect, its net effect has been to reduce radiation exposure to very low levels. The harms of low-dose radiation exposure are difficult to see, but Lyman says NRC's own models suggest those harms exist.

In his opinion, the revised rule ignores that risk and is designed to desensitize the public to the dangers of radiation. "It's trying to devalue and deemphasize the harm of ionizing radiation exposure," he warned.