Energy Department Publishes Secretly Rewritten Nuclear Safety Rules That Slash Environmental Protections

The Energy Department has made public a set of secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules that significantly slash requirements for security and environmental protections at experimental nuclear reactor sites. The rules were published a month after NPR first reported their existence, raising alarm among nuclear safety advocates and environmental groups who say the changes were made without proper public comment or congressional oversight. The disclosure comes as the Trump administration pushes to expand nuclear energy across both military and civilian applications, including the historic first airlift of a small nuclear reactor demonstrated last week.