"Maryland lawmakers’ new solution for rising utility bills reduces a surcharge funding an effective energy-efficiency program, offers rebates by raiding the state’s clean energy fund and includes subsidies for nuclear power that advocates say may prove costly over time."
"The Trump administration is moving ahead with a uranium mining project in South Dakota that’s drawn years of pushback from the Oglala Sioux Tribe." "Federal regulators are preparing an environmental review for a project opposed by members of a nearby tribe and conservation groups."
"The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations is struggling to bring a new wave of nuclear startups into their system." "Several nuclear power startups are balking at joining the industry’s voluntary regulatory body in what could become a major shakeup to plant safety oversight."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has voted to no longer lead security drills at power plants, instead allowing companies to lead their own drills in the coming years."
"After decades of aversion to the clean energy source, states are welcoming in nuclear developers as a way to meet surging electricity demand without fossil fuels."
"Under the draft proposal, the principle that exposure should be “as low as reasonably achievable” will be replaced with hard limits and special exceptions."
"TerraPower, a Bill Gates–backed nuclear power start-up, received the federal green light to start building a power plant in Wyoming. The approval paves the way for the first new commercial nuclear reactor in the U.S. in nearly a decade."
"One year ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was an independent agency, setting safety standards without White House interference. Those days are over."
"The Trump Administration has created an exclusion for new experimental reactors being built at sites around the U.S. from a major environmental law. The law would have required them to disclose how their construction and operation might harm the environment, and it also typically required a written, public assessment of the possible consequences of a nuclear accident."
"Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the U.S. and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday as it advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight."
