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Beyond
Nuclear Bulletin
January
29, 2026
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TRUMP'S
SECRET
Deep
cuts in reactor
safety
In response to White House Executive Order
14301 issued May 23,
2025, the US
Department of Energy
(DOE) is deregulating
federal reactor safety
and security rules and
standards in order to
expedite the
deployment of
experimental designs
for new advanced
reactors through the
licensing,
construction and
operational testing to
achieve reactor
criticality by July 4,
2026. The expedited
approval process will
be used to demonstrate
proof-of-product for
full commercial
operation of a design
then ready for mass
assembly line
production. National
Public Radio (NPR) reported on January 28, 2026, that it has obtained
copies of the DOE
documents as the basis
for their news story
headlined “The Trump
administration has
secretly rewritten
nuclear safety rules”
setting off alarms.
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FOUR
SECONDS CLOSER
Doomsday Clock sounds
alarm
The world has never been in greater peril,
The Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists
concluded as it moved
the hands of its
Doomsday Clock to 85
seconds to midnight,
four minutes closer
than a year ago, and
the closest the clock
has ever been to
midnight since it was
created in 1947. BOAS
cited a “failure of
leadership” globally
as the chief driver
and singled out
“Russia, China, the
United States and
other major
countries,” for
becoming “increasingly
aggressive,
adversarial, and
nationalistic.” The
decision to move the
clock rests not only
on the risks of
nuclear war and
climate change but
also on “the misuse of
biotechnology, the
potential threat of
artificial
intelligence, and
other apocalyptic
dangers,” BOAS said. (Photo: Jamie
Christiani)
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ZOMBIE NUKES, DUMPS
Battling Palisades & Duane Arnold, CISFs
January 28 marked 40
years since the Space
Shuttle Challenger
catastrophe. Our environmental coalition expert
witness, nuclear
engineer Arnie
Gundersen, with 55 years
of experience, has invoked
that cautionary tale,
comparing it to the high
risks being taken by
Holtec at its Palisades
reactor restart on the
Lake Michigan shore in
southwest Michigan. WORT
has reported on
our coalition's federal
lawsuit against this
zombie reactor.
Likewise, Nuclear
Hotseat has reported
on Beyond Nuclear's ongoing
resistance to
Holtec's licensed highly
radioactive waste
consolidated interim
storage facility,
previously targeting New
Mexico -- and Interim
Storage Partners' too,
still targeting Texas.
And our intervention
petition to the Iowa
Utilities Commission,
opposing NextEra's
risky, exorbitant, and
unneeded Duane Arnold
reactor (pictured)
restart, has
been approved.
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JOIN US TO PROTECT BETTER
Organizing meetings: January & February
DETAILS
AND REGISTRATION
The May 2025 White House Executive Order
14300 has told NRC to
allow more radiation
exposure of our
communities, workers
and our environment.
NRC is planning to
release a proposed
rule late February
(subject to change).
NIRS, GRIP and Beyond
Nuclear are hosting
informal sessions.
Remaining sessions are
January 30, and February 5. They will give basic information and help
create
community-driven
talking points for
submission once the
rule is released. More
sessions may be added.
It is IMPERATIVE TO HAVE ORIGINAL COMMENTS, not sign ons or cut and paste sample
letters, because NRC
will count those as
ONE COMMENT. We need
hundreds of comments.
Comments don’t have to
be long, but should be
personal and/or
geographic and issue
specific.
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