Katrina Katrinka 
In Salt Lake City, we already have the existential crisis of the drying #GreatSaltLake. Why not radiate the remaining water, too?
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/04/13/pushing-trump-nuclear-plan-doge/
Read the whole article, but here are some of the alarming quotes:
"'They are testing in Utah. … I don’t know, like 70 people live there,' he said.
"'They’ve been downwind before,' another staffer joked.
"Figures like Cohen are forcing a 'move fast and break things' Silicon Valley ethos on one of the country’s most important regulators.
"The Trump administration has been particularly aggressive in its attacks on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission[...]
"During that Idaho meeting, Cohen shot down any notion of NRC independence in the new era.
"'Assume the NRC is going to do whatever we tell the NRC to do,' he said, records reviewed by ProPublica show.
"'We knew regulatory capture led directly to Fukushima and to Chernobyl,' said Kathryn Huff, who was assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy during the Biden administration.
"One nuclear industry insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said many firms are fixating on changing these radiation rules: Their business model requires moving nuclear reactors around the country, often near workers or the general public.
"The DOE has been considering a fivefold increase to the limit for public exposure to radiation, which will allow some nuclear reactor companies to cut costs on these expensive safety shields, internal DOE documents seen by ProPublica show.
"For his part, Cohen has told the nuclear industry that he sees his job as making sure the government 'is no longer a barrier' to them.
"He also suggested that regulators should not fret about preparing for so-called 100-year events — disasters that have roughly a 1% chance of taking place but can be catastrophic for nuclear facilities."
In pushing Trump nuclear plan, DOGE cracked jokes about risks to Utah residents
A startup building a nuclear reactor in Utah has called for less-strict limits on exposure to radiation. Such debates are underway as the Trump administration upends the way nuclear energy is regulated, driven by a desire to dramatically increase the amount of energy available to power artificial intelligence.
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