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STOP RADIATION BETRAYAL! The nuclear exemption rule change is worse than we thought.

Each exemption from licensing can give the public a dose 5 times higher than we are allowed to get from a nuclear power reactor. There is no limit on the number of exemptions.

2 November 26, https://www.protectbetter.org/below-regulatory-concern-on-steroids

Radioactive waste does not belong in baby toys, frying pans, garden soil, jewelry, roads, cars, building supplies—or any of our everyday household items.The NRC is stealthily expanding the list of radioactive materials that can be used, sold, and disposed of without a license — to many hundreds.

Current legal dose, per person per year 100 millirems

What each exemption could give us 500 millirems

Submit your comment

From nuclear power and other facilities releasing radioactivity into our air and water. That’s not okay, but it is the current legal dose to each of us.

The NRC is stealthily expanding the list of radioactive materials that can be used, sold, and disposed of without a license — to many hundreds.

They’re calling it “noncontroversial.” It is not. We defeated this many times before. We must defeat it again.

If enough people prove it’s controversial, adverse, and significant by November 4, the fast-track rule may be withdrawn.

If enough people prove it’s controversial, adverse, significant by November 4, the fast-track rule may be withdrawn.

Submit your comment now Deadline: November 4 by 11:59 PM EST

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM

The NRC is using a fast-track process to exempt hundreds of radioactive substances (radionuclides) from licensing — claiming it’s “noncontroversial” to avoid public analysis of health or environmental impact.

These hundreds of radioactive materials could go:

• To commercial recycling to make consumer goods — zippers, baby toys, belt buckles, building supplies
• To regular leaky trash dumps and incinerators
• To hazardous dumps and processing centers
• For deliberate use in everyday consumer goods and industrial products

“Below Regulatory Concern” is back, and it’s on steroids!

This is not new. Every effort to deregulate radioactive waste and materials since 1986 has been rejected. Dozens of towns, counties, and cities have resolutions, and 14 states have passed laws rejecting exemptions like these.

In 1992, Congress formally revoked the NRC’s Below Regulatory Concern (BRC) policy statements. The NRC is trying again — this time calling it something else.

The rule is labeled “noncontroversial.” We must prove it’s both controversial and has significant adverse effects in our comments by November 4 to force the NRC to withdraw it and respond.

November 3, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | radiation