UK’s old nuclear reactors to be kept going as we wait for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
Two nuclear power stations will continue to generate electricity for two
more years than previously announced. In the latest of multiple extensions,
operator EDF said Hartlepool Power Station and Heysham 1 in Lancashire
would run until March 2030, two years longer than a previous estimate of
2028.
EDF said it took the decision after a “detailed review” of the
condition of the boilers and the graphite cores as well as supply chain
resilience. Chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, Tom
Greatrex, said: “The significance of this cannot be understated, given the
UK’s exposure to volatile gas prices and the need to protect households by
providing baseload power.”
The company also gave an update on hopes to
install the UK’s first Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) in Hartlepool,
which developers said would provide a “similar” amount of electricity to
the current plant’s power output. It said an application to enter the
generic design assessment had been submitted in June, describing it as the
“first critical step in the UK licensing progress”.
BBC 22nd July 2026,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyvng9vl66o
UK’s nuclear plants face risks of AI-powered cyber-attacks and insider threats
17 Jul, 2026 By Tom Pashby, https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/uks-nuclear-plants-face-risks-of-ai-powered-cyber-attacks-and-insider-threats-17-07-2026/
Civil nuclear power plants in the UK now face cyber-attacks enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) and insider threats, according to the government’s National Risk Register 2026.
The National Risk Register (NRR) is the annual, public-facing version of the government’s National Security Risk Assessment, it “includes a summary of all but the most sensitive, classified risks,” according to Cabinet Office minister of state Darren Jones.
Jones informed parliament and the public of the publication of the 2026 edition of the NRR in a written ministerial statement on 14 July.
The NRR attracts attention because it explains the government’s assessment of the likelihood and severity of a broad range of risks, including terrorism, cyber threats, geopolitical and diplomatic risks, accidents and systems failures.
The 2026 edition covers 95 risks. Of relevance to the civil engineering and infrastructure sector, “cyber-attack water infrastructure” was added as a new risk to reflect learning “from reported cyber-attacks targeting the water sector,” the NRR said.
It also added, “accidental damage on the National Gas Transmission Network – to explore damage to the gas transmission network as a result of agricultural digging.”
In her foreword to the 2026 NRR, Cabinet Office security minister Angela Eagle said: “This government is committed to sharing risk information as openly as possible, to support all those working to build the UK’s resilience with their planning, preparation and response activity.
“Greater transparency also means that people can scrutinise our assessments, and challenge us to do things differently when needed.”
She added: “A whole of society approach is required to increase resilience; therefore, I encourage all risk and resilience professionals to consider the risks in this publication, and join our collective endeavour to make the UK more prosperous and secure.”
While the 2025 edition included “conventional attack” and “cyber-attack” against civil nuclear as two distinct risks, the 2026 edition removed the cyber-attack risk profile and instead covered cyber risks facing civil nuclear into “malicious attack: civil nuclear”, in its “state threats” grouping.
Within the new malicious attack: civil nuclear profile, the NRR 2026 said: “AI can automate the process of launching cyber-attacks, making them faster, more efficient and lower the barrier for entry.”
Reacting to the 2026 NRR, cybersecurity firm e2e-assure CEO Rob Demain told NCE: “Nuclear plants have always planned for physical threats and human error. What’s new is the assumption that the attacker may already have a way in, that someone with legitimate access can do real damage without ever needing to break down a fence.
“AI is exacerbating the threat. The National Risk Register itself says AI can automate attacks, making them faster, cheaper and easier to attempt without much skill.
“Elsewhere it goes further, describing how AI makes fake messages harder to spot and helps attackers find weaknesses faster. That’s a very different risk to plan for, than a lone bad actor.”
Demain added: “For the people who design, build and maintain this infrastructure, the message is simple: security can no longer be something bolted on afterwards, or left entirely to IT.
“It has to be built into how these sites operate, day to day, alongside the safety systems engineers already take for granted.”
Also responding to the “malicious attack: civil nuclear” risk profile, an EDF spokesperson told NCE: “As the risk from cyber-attack on UK critical national infrastructure continues to evolve, EDF continues to further refine its defences, with horizon scanning for developing threats and a constant series of system improvements to make it harder for those attempting to damage our systems.
We note that the National Risk Register does not propose a scenario of a safety risk but one that ‘results in a disruption to normal operations until investigations have demonstrated nuclear safety and security critical systems remain unaffected’, and that ‘the disruption is not a direct result of the attack’.”
Demain told NCE earlier in July that critical national infrastructure assets are now more at risk of cyber-attacks due to the deployment of newer, more powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Anthropic’s Mythos.
A Seat Cushion Triggered One Of History’s Strangest Nuclear Accidents And A Geopolitical Scandal That Lasted Decades
A cushion, a crash, and a Cold War cover-up.
Tom Hale,19 July 26, https://www.iflscience.com/a-seat-cushion-triggered-one-of-historys-strangest-nuclear-accidents-and-a-geopolitical-scandal-that-lasted-decades-84141
There have been 32 known incidents where the US has accidentally detonated, misfired, or lost nuclear warheads (at least those that the public is allowed to know about). Just one of these accidents, however, became an international scandal and environmental disaster thanks to a cozy seat cushion for someone’s ass.
The incident unfolded in early 1968, a time when The Beatles were blasting on the radio, the Vietnam War was raging, and the threat of full-blown nuclear war between the US and the USSR was still very much on the cards.
Ever paranoid about the atomic threat, the US had launched an airborne patrol of up to 12 nuclear-armed bombers to constantly patrol the skies. Known as Operation Chrome Dome, the fleet of planes flew 24/7, non-stop from 1961 to 1968.
The operation’s routes regularly shifted to keep the USSR on its toes, but many of the flights cruised around the upper reaches of the Northern Hemisphere, a nice vantage point from which the US could hop over the Soviet Union and casually obliterate a few million people.
The incident unfolds, then explodes
On the morning of January 21, 1968, a B-52 bomber loaded with four B28FI thermonuclear bombs flew out of Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York to take up its shift policing the skies.
It was mid-winter and temperatures were achingly low as the giant plane headed northeastwards into the Arctic Circle by mid-afternoon. In a struggle to keep warm, some of the crew had reportedly covered parts of the cabin with cushions. Unbeknownst to them, they had been placed over a heating vent that was blasting hot air from the overheating engine. The cushions turned into a smoldering tinder, and flames slowly engulfed the aircraft.
As the plane headed near the US Thule Air Base in Greenland, the crew bailed. Six of the seven successfully parachuted to safety, but one crew member, co-pilot Leonard Svitenko, attempted to escape through the lower hatch and sustained a fatal head injury.
They drifted down to the ice-covered expanse below, watching the plane turn into a fireball as it nosedived towards Wolstenholme Fjord. The plane exploded on impact, rupturing the nuclear warheads and spreading radioactive debris for miles around like a dirty bomb.
It was about to become a very long day for the US State Department, to say the least. First, they had to find the bombs and the nuclear debris, then they had to consider how they were going to clean up the mess. To make matters even more complicated, nukes weren’t technically allowed in Greenland, a territory under Danish control, and Denmark was keen to maintain its reputation as a nuclear-free zone (at least in public).
“Aircraft carried four repeat four nuclear weapons,” reads a telegram between the State Department and the US Embassy in Denmark. “Wreckage covers five mile area. Difficult climate conditions and lack of daylight hampering search operations. Special USAF team being sent.”
What followed was a nine-month cleanup operation, one of the largest and strangest in Cold War history. Hundreds of US airmen and Danish workers spent the sunless Arctic winter traveling via dog sleds and scraping contaminated ice, snow, and wreckage off the fjord by hand. Greenlandic Inuit people reportedly joined the charge, building a village of igloos to shelter the crews when the wind and chills became too much to bear.
Eventually, some 600 containers of contaminated snow had been gathered and were shipped to the US. Three of the nuclear bombs were accounted for, but the fourth was never fully recovered, presumably buried somewhere in ice.
“Thulegate”
Dealing with the contamination was one thing, but the political fallout was just as tricky to traverse. Publicly, the US and Denmark claimed the B-52 had been diverted over Greenland because of an unexpected in-flight emergency. But both governments were lying.
In the 1990s, declassified documents and journalistic investigations revealed that nuclear-armed bombers had been routinely flying over Greenland throughout the 1960s, unbeknownst to the Danish public. It became a political scandal dubbed “Thulegate” that deepened when it was revealed the Danish government had secretly signed a deal with the US to hold 50 nuclear weapons at the Thule base between 1958 and 1965.
Almost six decades later, Washington’s interest in Greenland hasn’t cooled with President Trump’s repeated demands to acquire the territory, one way or another.
Hopefully, a chilly pilot won’t threaten to turn tempers nuclear once again.
World warned of ‘nuclear apocalypse’ after drone kills nuclear plant engineer in Ukraine
Russia has warned of ‘nuclear apocalypse’ after a drone strike allegedly carried out by Ukraine killed the chief engineer at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility
Daily Star, Will Stewart Russia Correspondent and Adam Cailler Senior reporter and MSN lead, 16 Jul 2026
Russia has warned of a “nuclear apocalypse” following an alleged Ukrainian assassination of a senior engineer at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Alexander Yakovlev, 46, was killed in a drone attack between the facility and the nearby town of Enerhodar.
He was travelling in a service vehicle and perished alongside his driver, according to Russian reports. Yakovlev served as the chief engineer at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest. Ukraine’s Mirotvorets website had branded him a “traitor to the motherland” and an “accomplice to terrorists and Russian occupiers.”
Through his work for the Russians following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, he stood accused of “collaboration in the form of assisting the occupiers in committing acts of nuclear terrorism and blackmail”. Following the occupation of this section of Zaporizhzhia region, he obtained Russian citizenship.
Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, denounced the incident without explicitly naming Ukraine or Russia. The killing “represents an unacceptable attack on the plant and its management, seriously threatening nuclear safety.”
He demanded an “immediate end” to all strikes “on or near nuclear sites.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared: “This is a crime of the Kyiv regime that Grossi must finally see – we demand a clear statement condemning this killing from the relevant international bodies, first and foremost the IAEA.”
Alexei Likhachev, the head of Rosatom, stated: “We expect the IAEA to respond promptly, concretely, and clearly to this tragedy.” Russian forces took control of the plant in southeastern Ukraine during the initial weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine………
Russian authorities initiated a criminal investigation into the killings. Ukraine has yet to respond.https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/world-warned-nuclear-apocalypse-after-37438323
Satellite images show damage inside Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant
Satellite images [on original] reveal strikes between July 7 and 12 on Iran’s largest nuclear power plant
By Al Jazeera Staff, 17 Jul 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/17/satellite-images-show-damage-inside-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant
Satellite imagery reveals new damage inside Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant complex following the latest wave of US strikes during renewed military escalation between Washington and Tehran.
A comparison of European Sentinel-2 satellite images captured on July 7 and July 12 shows newly formed impact scars inside the Bushehr complex, along with another apparent strike site within nearby support facilities.
The open-source unit of Al Jazeera Network compiled satellite imagery, field footage and official data from the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to map the locations of US strikes across Iran between July 7 and July 15.
Ehsan Jahanian, deputy governor of Bushehr province, had said on July 9 that several locations across the province had been struck, including areas surrounding the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a military site in Choghadak and a fishing port in the south of the province, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
Jahanian later denied reports that the nuclear power plant itself had been hit, saying the reactor remained unaffected and continued operating normally.
The strikes came during a broader US military campaign against Iran. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it struck about 90 military targets on July 7-8, including air defence systems, missile and drone storage sites, naval assets and military infrastructure along Iran’s southern coast.
The US did not identify Bushehr or any nuclear facility among the announced targets.
Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant
Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant. Located about 17km (11 miles) south of the city of Bushehr, the 2.5-square-kilometre (one-square-mile) complex includes reactor buildings, cooling-water channels connected to the ocean, assembly halls and a harbour used to receive equipment and materials for construction and reactor operations.
The site contains two reactor buildings, one operational and another that has remained unfinished for years.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), Bushehr-1 has a net electrical capacity of about 915 megawatts.
It was first connected to Iran’s electricity grid in September 2011 before entering commercial operation in September 2013.
Unlike uranium enrichment facilities such as Natanz or Fordow, the operating Bushehr reactor contains nuclear fuel and radioactive materials associated with power generation, making any damage to its cooling, power supply or containment systems significantly more sensitive.
Previous incidents
The July strike was not the first reported projectile incident near the Bushehr plant in 2026.
The IAEA event reports submitted by Iran’s nuclear regulator recorded multiple incidents, including projectiles striking inside the plant’s premises on March 17, March 24 and March 27, as well as another impact near the fence surrounding the reactor’s first unit on April 4. In each case, Iranian authorities reported that the reactor continued operating normally and that no damage to the reactor itself had been recorded.
The IAEA has repeatedly stressed that nuclear facilities should never become targets of armed attacks because of the potential consequences for people, the environment and regional nuclear safety.
Mysterious drones spotted flying over nuclear power plant
Sarah Hooper Metro. Live News Reporter, July 16, 2026
At least seven drones were spotted near Switzerland’s Gösgen nuclear power plant, sparking a large police response.
The mystery drones were spotted around 10.30pm yesterday and reported by a resident.
The safety of the power plant was not compromised during the incident, with the head of communications for the plant saying the threat posed by drones was ‘negligible’.
As is usually the case around power plants, a no-fly zone is in place around Gösgen.
It remains unclear who was behind the drones above the nuclear power plant this week.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Russia launched hundreds of drones and covert UAVs across the UK and Europe from their shadow fleet, thought to be in preparation for a future conflict.
The International Institute of Strategic Studies issued a sobering report that found Vladimir Putin’s shadow fleet ships had sent drones to target airports, bases, and nuclear sites.
Among the sites affected by the spy drones were RAF Fairford, Feltwell, Lakenheath and Mildenhall, and dozens of sites across continental Europe………………………………. https://metro.co.uk/2026/07/16/seven-mystery-drones-swarm-european-nuclear-power-plant-29153061/
No radiation leak after ‘contamination’ events at Africa’s only nuclear plant, regulator says.
South Africa’s nuclear regulator said Thursday that no radioactive material
leaked into the environment during three recent “contamination” events
inside Africa´s only nuclear power station. The incidents involved
“elevated airborne radioactive contamination” inside the Koeberg Power
Station, on South Africa’s west coast, when there was a loss of power to
ventilation units during maintenance work, the National Nuclear Regulator
said, adding there was no danger to the public. It said the three separate
contamination events on June 30, July 2 and July 7 were contained inside
the station.
Mirror 16th July 2026
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/koeberg-nuclear-power-station-africa-37442154
‘At risk of horrific contamination’: The Soviet nuclear submarine wreck that is a ‘ticking time bomb’
By Fiona Macdonald, 13 July 26, https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20260709-the-nuclear-submarine-wreck-that-is-a-time-bomb
In 1989, the Komsomolets sank off the Norwegian coast. Four years later, the BBC reported on plans to seal in its torpedoes’ toxic plutonium.
“Komsomolets is a time bomb ticking away at the bottom of the Norwegian Sea.
“And unless something is done about it, and done about it quickly, we’re all in danger.” This is how the risk posed by a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine was described by Russian Greenpeace activist Dimitri Litvinov in a 1993 BBC news report.
Resting one mile (1.6km) deep in the sea near the coast of Norway after a fire caused it to sink four years earlier, the Komsomolets had prompted international concern. Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes inside were corroding, risking the release of 9lb (4kg) of plutonium into the Norwegian Sea.
State-of-the-art Soviet technology went into the design of the Komsomolets, which was unique for the depths it could reach. It was expected by Nato to be the first in a class of large attack submarines, but no further vessels of its kind were built. According to a 1994 BBC Horizon documentary, “The Komsomolets was to be the Soviet Union’s secret invincible weapon, the only submarine in the world able to cruise and launch nuclear missiles from 1,000m [0.62 miles] deep, twice the depth at which Western submarines can operate. Today, the Komsomolets is a technical and scientific disaster.”
When the fire broke out on 7 April 1989, the crew managed to bring the submarine up to the surface – but it sank after five hours afloat, killing 42 of the 69 crew members. As it went down, an escape pod shot five trapped seamen to the surface, with just one man able to climb out before it filled with water.
As the Komsomolets hit the bottom, near the Norwegian coast, an explosion ripped open the submarine’s titanium pressure hull and brought seawater into contact with the nuclear torpedoes. A research mission by Russian oceanographers found that parts of the submarine’s hull had “burst and crumbled from the explosion, like glass”.
After the disaster, scientists were divided over what to do. Russian scientist Igor Spassky of the Rubin Institute, which designed the Komsomolets, told the BBC’s Ben Brown in 1993 that it was not a catastrophic situation – although he did want the submarine to be raised out of the sea. “Within a decade, the two nuclear warheads on the ship will be fully corroded by an electrochemical reaction involving salt water… and the highly toxic plutonium will escape from the damaged torpedoes and into the environment,” he told the US Naval Institute.
“According to environmentalists,” said Brown in his BBC report, “if that happens, the sailors who died here would not be the only victims of the Komsomolets. The lives of many more people, they say, would be at risk, because the rich fishing grounds here would then be subject to horrific contamination.” Yet a report released in 1993 by an international team of scientists concluded that the submarine was unlikely to contaminate fisheries.
Despite conflicting views on the dangers posed, efforts were made to mitigate potential contamination. Deep-sea engineering operations between 1995 and 1996 sealed hull fractures and torpedo tubes to contain radioactive material. The work finished 30 years ago, in July 1996. But investigations by the Norwegian government have since revealed that the submarine is still leaking – and the sealant was only expected to last 30 years.An indefinite potential hazard
A report published in March 2026 found that while the torpedoes remain sealed, the reactor is degrading, periodically releasing visible plumes of radioactive material into the sea. The team from the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) said that the leak is not constant but occurs in sporadic bursts from specific locations along the hull, with a “cloud” seeping out of a ventilation duct.
They don’t believe the current levels are harmful, however. “Radioactive releases from the reactor… have had little impact on the surrounding marine environment,” says Ingar Amundsen, acting director of the DSA’s Department for International Nuclear Safety and Security.
Yet that could change – with both the submarine’s nuclear reactor and nuclear-armed torpedoes posing threats, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. Corrosion of the submarine over time could impact current radiation levels, he tells the BBC. “That depends on other factors such as the oxygen level of the seawater around and inside the submarine wreckage, and the condition of the sealant.”
He also points to changing currents as a factor influencing how quickly radioactive materials might be released from the wreckage and potentially enter the food chain via bottom feeders and fish. “The fact that the submarine has already been sealed once is an official acknowledgement of that risk,” Kristensen adds.
“Nuclear fuel is in direct contact with seawater and deteriorating,” says Amundsen. “Further work should be carried out to understand the mechanisms behind the releases, the corrosion processes taking place, and their implications for further releases.” But that isn’t going to happen any time soon. “The depth of the submarine, close to 1,700m, makes it difficult to implement any mitigation actions, and we are not aware of any such plans for the moment.”
Kristensen argues that more should be done. “At the minimum, a new expedition should be carried out to determine the current condition. With a half-life of 24,000 years, warhead plutonium will remain a potential hazard indefinitely by human standards.”
Almost forgotten? the Church Rock nuclear tragedy
On July 16, 1979, the worst accidental release of radioactive waste in U.S.
history happened at the Church Rock uranium mine and mill site. While the
Three Mile Island accident (that same year) is well known, the enormous
radioactive spill in New Mexico has been kept quiet. It is the U.S. nuclear
accident that almost no one knows about. Just 14 weeks after the Three Mile
Island reactor accident, and 34 years to the day after the Trinity atomic
test, the small community of Church Rock, New Mexico became the scene of
another nuclear tragedy.
Beyond Nuclear 16th July 2023, https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2023/07/16/a-90-million-gallon-nuclear-tragedy/
Sizewell B nuclear power plant granted a 20-year life extension
Britain’s most recently completed nuclear power plant will continue
generating electricity until 2055 after the government granted the power
plant, which was first synchronised with the National Grid in 1995, a
20-year life extension. Sizewell B in Suffolk was due to shut down within
the next decade, but under a deal with the government its lifetime will be
extended to 60 years to help meet the UK’s growing demand for low-carbon
electricity.
Under the deal, EDF will receive £70.50 for every
megawatt-hour Sizewell B generates, starting from 2035, when it was
originally due to close. The extra investment needed to maintain the plant
will come from Centrica, which owns a 20% share in EDF’s reactors in the
UK. Sizewell B is the latest nuclear reactor to strike a deal with the
government to continue running, following the decision to extend the life
of four nuclear plants built across the country in the 1980s. The Heysham 2
nuclear reactor in Lancashire and the Torness nuclear plant in East
Lothian, Scotland, were originally expected to shut in 2018 but will keep
producing low-carbon electricity to March 2030. Meanwhile, the Heysham 1
plant and the Hartlepool nuclear plant in Teesside, which were initially
expected to close in 2008, will run until March 2028.
Guardian 8th July 2026,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/08/sizewell-b-nuclear-power-plant-granted-a-20-year-life-extension
Extensions to improvement notices following asbestos shortfalls at Torness
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted extensions to four improvement notices – two each served on EDF and contractor Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd – following asbestos shortfalls at Torness Nuclear Power Station.
The incident occurred during a planned outage at the East Lothian site in Scotland, in March 2026, when workers could have been exposed to asbestos in a valve within the steam system while carrying out overhaul activities.
There was no risk to nuclear safety, the public or the environment.
ONR has recognised that both companies have made progress towards meeting the requirements of the notices and so extensions have been granted to allow EDF and Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd more time to demonstrate full compliance.
Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd must comply with both of its notices by 30 September 2026.
EDF now has until 27 January 2027 to comply with the first notice for failing to maintain a written plan identifying areas of the site where asbestos is, or may be, present.
And it now has until 30 October 2026 to comply with the second notice, which relates to a failure to prevent or adequately reduce employee exposure to asbestos during valve overhaul activities.
ONR will continue to monitor both companies to ensure full compliance is achieved.
US nuclear power regulator proposes changing rule protecting people from radiation
in eliminating its use of the As Low as Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principle, the agency’s sweeping new proposed rule would allow nuclear facility workers and the general public to be exposed to higher levels of cancer-causing radiation just to save the nuclear industry money
By Timothy Gardner, July 2, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-nuclear-power-regulator-proposes-changing-rule-protecting-people-radiation-2026-07-01/
Summary
- Proposal would eliminate the ALARA radiation protection standard and set objective dose limits
- NRC to take public comments on radiation rule for 45 days
- NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said change could help speed development of new reactors
WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. nuclear power regulator on Wednesday proposed changes to a rule protecting people from radiation, the latest proposal pushed by the Trump administration to change or soften rules to speed development and cut costs for new atomic reactors.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders in 2025 seeking to speed up permitting of reactors and to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and directing the Energy and Defense departments to work together to build nuclear plants on federal lands. Trump wants to quadruple U.S. nuclear power capacity by 2050 to meet power demands that are rising due to data centers, electric vehicles and crypto-currencies.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposal eliminates a radiation protection standard called As Low as Reasonably Achievable, or ALARA, with objective dose limits for radiation. “This rulemaking is raising the bar on clarity in our regulations,” Ho Nieh, the NRC chairman, told reporters. “It is not lowering the bar on our safety standards.”
The industry has long argued that ALARA is tied to a model known as Linear No-Threshold that holds that any dose of radiation, no matter how small, carries cancer risks and that complying with ALARA is costly, time consuming, and full of uncertainties.
The proposed changes include adopting a graded approach to radiation dose management based on risk and operational circumstances. It also allows nuclear power plant operators greater flexibility to use “modern methods for evaluating radiation doses to workers and the public.”
Nieh said he does not anticipate that current nuclear reactors will make major changes due to the changed rule if finalized. But he said it could help speed development of new reactors.
“Now they have a very clear picture of what the requirements for radiation protection are going to look like, that will inform how they build and design their reactor, in terms of the shielding and the materials that they’re using,” Nieh told reporters.
Edwin Lyman, a physicist and nuclear safety advocate at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the NRC has correctly reaffirmed the scientific consensus that there is no safe level of radiation exposure and that the cancer risk is proportional to the dose.
“However, in eliminating its use of the ALARA principle, the agency’s sweeping new proposed rule would allow nuclear facility workers and the general public to be exposed to higher levels of cancer-causing radiation just to save the nuclear industry money.”Nieh said he does not anticipate that current nuclear reactors will make major changes due to the changed rule if finalized. But he said it could help speed development of new reactors.
“Now they have a very clear picture of what the requirements for radiation protection are going to look like, that will inform how they build and design their reactor, in terms of the shielding and the materials that they’re using,” Nieh told reporters.
Edwin Lyman, a physicist and nuclear safety advocate at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the NRC has correctly reaffirmed the scientific consensus that there is no safe level of radiation exposure and that the cancer risk is proportional to the dose.
“However, in eliminating its use of the ALARA principle, the agency’s sweeping new proposed rule would allow nuclear facility workers and the general public to be exposed to higher levels of cancer-causing radiation just to save the nuclear industry money.”
“This will only increase the disease burden at a time when cancer rates are already rising among younger people,” Lyman said.
Last month, the NRC proposed rule changes including changing a rule on security standards at nuclear power plants that UCS said would “dramatically weaken measures that protect their facilities from terrorist attacks.” Another rule proposed on Wednesday would make sweeping changes to reactor licensing including streamlining the construction of new reactors.
The NRC will take public comments on the radiation rule for 45 days before the rule is finalized.
More issues reported during manufacture of Sizewell C’s reactor vessels than Hinkley Point C’s
01 Jul, 2026 By Tom Pashby, https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/more-issues-reported-during-manufacture-of-sizewell-cs-reactor-vessels-than-hinkley-point-cs-01-07-2026/
“Quality issues” relating to the manufacture of the reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) for Sizewell C have been identified by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) during an inspection by the regulator.
The number of “non-conformance reports” has increased at Framatome St Marcel (FSM) – the French manufacturer of the RPVs – compared to when it was manufacturing the RPVs for Hinkley Point C.
Sizewell C and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have regularly highlighted how Sizewell C will be delivered more efficiently than Hinkley Point C because of how much design work can be copied over.
The Sizewell C – Inspection ID: 54200 report from the ONR, which was carried out in April 2026 and published on 22 June, reported that “manufacturing quality issues” had been identified at FSM.
The ONR stressed the importance of the RPV in its report. “The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is manufactured by Framatome (manufacturer of nuclear equipment based in France),” it said.
“The RPV is a nuclear safety class 1 component which forms part of the primary circuit. It has been categorised as a high integrity component (HIC) within the SZC safety case.
“Therefore, the consequences of failure during operation cannot be tolerated and a highest reliability claim is made on the structural integrity of the RPV.”
The aim of the ONR’s inspection was for it to “make an informed judgement on the adequacy of SZC’s specification, control and oversight of RPV manufacture at FSM in compliance with LC12 and LC19.”
LC12 means License Condition 12, and required that “the licensee (meaning Sizewell C) shall make and implement adequate arrangements to ensure that only suitably qualified and experienced persons perform any duties which may affect the safety of operations on the site or any other duties assigned by or under these conditions or any arrangements required under these conditions.”
Meanwhile, LC19 requires that “where the licensee proposes to construct or install any new plant which may affect safety the licensee shall make and implement adequate arrangements to control the construction or installation.”
Regulator says additional scrutiny was not required over Hinkley Point C bullying concerns
26 Jun, 2026 By Tom Pashby
An MP’s claim that the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) increased
scrutiny of Hinkley Point C over bullying allegations has been contested by
the regulator, NCE understands.
Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and
Minehead Rachel Gilmour raised concerns about bullying at Hinkley Point C
(HPC) during the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) evidence
session on Sizewell C on 8 June. MPs challenged senior representatives of
Sizewell C on the project’s commitment to transparency around possible
future cost overruns.
Representatives also provided new details on the
infrastructure being built at the site. During the session Gilmour said:
“I want to ask about bullying […] my constituency includes Hinkley A,
Hinkley B and Hinkley C. Once elected, I was inundated with whistleblowers
and people who have great concerns about the bullying culture at Hinkley C,
to such an extent that I had a meeting with Simone Rossi, the chief
executive of EDF Europe, and the ONR.
“The ONR felt that the situation
was so bad that they had to put in extra scrutiny. I was joined by
WhistleblowersUK in that.” However, NCE understands that it is ONR’s
position that no additional regulatory measures or scrutiny have been
required at Hinkley Point C for any bullying or harassment issues.
New Civil Engineer 26th June 2026,
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/regulator-says-additional-scrutiny-was-not-required-over-hinkley-point-c-bullying-concerns-26-06-2026/
Substation damage delaying operation of repaired Zaporizhzhia power line, says IAEA
Friday, 26 June 2026, https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/substation-damage-stopping-zaporizhzhia-power-line-reconnection-says-iaea
After months of ceasefire negotiations, planning and complex repairs, the main external power line to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been fixed – but it can’t be put back into operation because of damage to a substation 100 kilometres away, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said: “Of the six temporary ceasefires that we have negotiated since late last year to help protect nuclear safety … this was the most challenging to implement. It required several months of delicate negotiations, followed by mine clearance and repairs on high pylons across the Dnipro River. The IAEA monitored these activities on the ground to confirm they were carried out as agreed.
“Both sides worked constructively with us to enable the repairs to proceed. Despite the many military and technical challenges, this demonstrates that concrete progress remains possible, even during a large-scale war. We will continue our efforts to reduce the ever-present danger of a nuclear accident.”
The IAEA team based at the Zaporizhzhia plant monitored the repair work on the plant side of the frontline, with a separate IAEA team monitoring the repair work on the other side of the Dnipro River.
However the 750 kV Dniprovska external power line is not back in operation yet, because of damage sustained in May at an electrical substation 100 kilometres northwest of the plant, Grossi said.
“Repeated damage to the electrical infrastructure on which nuclear power plants depend continues to create serious nuclear safety and security risks. I once again call for maximum military restraint around all nuclear facilities and the power infrastructure they require,” he said.
Since the main Dniprovska line was disconnected in March, the six-unit nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022, has been relying on its sole remaining 330 kV Ferosplavna-1 backup power line.
During the war there have been a number of occasions when all external power has been lost to the plant. Last week the back-up power line was reconnected after the 19th such loss of power. As with the previous occasions, the plant had to rely on power from its emergency diesel generators for the power required by the plant, including for various safety functions.
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