The #Trump Administration exempts new #nuclear reactors from #environmental review

Geoff Brumfiel, February 2, 20263:09 PM ET

"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 #NuclearAccident.

"The exclusion announcement comes just days after NPR revealed officials at the Department of Energy had secretly rewritten environmental, safety and security rules to make it easier for the reactors to be built.

"The Department of Energy announced the change Monday in a notice in the Federal Register. It said the department would begin excluding advanced nuclear reactors from the #NationalEnvironmentalPolicyAct. The act requires federal agencies to consider the environment when undertaking new projects and programs.

"The law also requires extensive reporting on how proposed programs might impact local ecosystems. That documentation, known as an #EnvironmentalImpactStatement, and a second lesser type of analysis, known as an #EnvironmentalAssessment, provide an opportunity for the public to review and comment on potential projects in their community."

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5696525/trump-nuclear-safety-regulations-environmental-review

#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #NuclearPlants #USPol #PublicReview #Secrecy #NuclearSafety #NuclearPollution #EnvironmentalImpact
#NoNukesWithoutConsent #EnvironmentalLaw #TrumpAdministration #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies

Bloomberg article (way down at the bottom) talking about a "significant airborne release" of Cesium-137 somewhere in the world (related to the radioactive shoes and sneakers, no doubt)

"Elsewhere, however, the event was detected, if not immediately noted. Radionuclide monitoring stations more than a thousand kilometers away in Malaysia and in the remote Australian territory the Cocos Islands - part of a global network of sensors deployed by the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation - picked up traces of radiation, Indonesian officials would later be informed. A unit of the US Department of Energy would say in a preliminary assessment seen by Bloomberg News that detections by two different stations at that distance suggests “a significant airborne release” of Cesium-137.'"

https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/radioactive-shrimp-and-sneakers-the-global-trail-leading-to-indonesia-1.500346573

#radioactivity #cesium137 #nuclearaccident

🐕 Bầy chó hoang có bộ lông xanh sáng kỳ lạ được phát hiện tại khu vực cấm xung quanh nhà máy điện hạt nhân Chernobyl, khiến dư luận và giới khoa học sửng sốt. Hiện tượng bí ẩn này có thể liên quan đến ô nhiễm môi trường từ thảm họa hạt nhân năm 1986.

#Chernobyl #BlueDogs #Wildlife #Nuclear #Mystery #WildlifePhotography #ChernobylDogs #NuclearAccident #Environmental #Science #News #ChernobylWildlife #BlueFurDogs #NuclearContamination

#chóChernobyl #chólôngxanh #độngvậthoang #thảmhọahạtnhân #k

Have you ever wondered what the computer at #Chernobyl actually printed out during the 1986 #nuclearaccident?

No, it was not ominous video terminal output. It was oppressive line printer output! 🖨️

Here, translated to English! Without making it ANY less stressful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de0x_KOvfpI

#retro #retrocomputing

"When Kitty Litter Caused a Nuclear Catastrophe"

I always use inorganic kitty litter for my litter box. I don't want the litter box to experience a thermal runaway reaction.

https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/4/15/when-kitty-litter-caused-a-nuclear-catastrophe

#CatLitter #LitterBox #NuclearAccident #cats

Today in Labor History March 28, 1979: Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant, in Pennsylvania, had a level-5 partial meltdown, the worst nuclear power accident in U.S. history, and one of the worst in the world, prior to Chernobyl. TMI operators had not been adequately trained to handle the type of malfunction that led to the meltdown and, consequently, a delay in mitigation efforts. Clean-up began in 1993, at a cost of $2 billion in today’s dollars. Officials concluded that the release of radioactive material from the plant did not raise exposure levels of nearby residents to a level that would increase cancer cases by even one additional case. However, anti-nuclear groups hired their own independent investigators who found that radiation levels in the area were significantly elevated. A peer-reviewed study by Dr. Steven Wing found a significant increase in cancers from 1979-1985 among people living within ten miles of TMI. And in 2009, Dr. Wing said that the amount of radiation released during the accident was likely "thousands of times greater" than the NRC's estimates.

In 2024, Bill Gates obtained exclusive rights to the “carbon-free” energy from TMI, once it reopens, to power his Artificial Intelligence farms, starting in 2028. Other Tech Barons are also looking to exploit nuclear power for their energy-hungry AI farms. Data centers currently account for about 1 to 1.5 percent of global electricity use. NVIDIA will be shipping out over 1.5 million AI server units per year by 2027. These servers, alone, would consume at over 85.4 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than many small countries use in a year. Yet, the U.S. still has no permanent radioactive waste storage facilities. As of 2023, the U.S. had roughly 88,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors, and all of this is stranded at the reactor sites. Experts expect this number to grow by 2,000 metric tons each year.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/20/energy/three-mile-island-microsoft-ai/index.html

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ai-boom-could-use-a-shocking-amount-of-electricity/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nuclear-waste-is-piling-up-does-the-u-s-have-a-plan/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #radioactive #nuclear #threemileisland #nuclearaccident #radiation #nuclearwaste #artificialintelligence #ai #billgates #chernobyl #cancere #publichealth