Attorney General Bonta Confronts Trump Administration’s Continued Attempts to Prioritize Industry over Public Health and Safety in the Use of Nuclear Energy Technologies and Radioactive Materials

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined two multistate comment letters opposing U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rulemakings that would reduce regulatory oversight over radioactive byproduct materials and the construction, operation, and decommissioning of traditional and advanced reactors without sound rationale. The rulemakings are part of the NRC’s ongoing efforts to reduce its oversight of nuclear energy facilities and relax standards that protect public health and safety. One would significantly expand the number of radioactive byproduct materials, which are often used for medical purposes like diagnostics and cancer therapy, that a person or facility could use without obtaining a license. The other would relax financial qualifications for decommissioning, reduce public participation on decommissioning decisions, eliminate nonemergency reporting requirements, and reduce earthquake planning requirements, among other things. When it comes to nuclear safety rules, administrative efficiency should not supersede public and environmental safety. The NRC’s actions, especially when considered amidst the wave of new regulations the NRC has proposed as part of its “wholesale revision” of nuclear safety practices, raise many red flags and would violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the NRC’s mission to ensure safe operation of nuclear facilities.

“When nuclear energy is concerned, deregulation is risky. Nuclear energy is an important source of energy in some states, but our homes and communities deserve safe power generation that doesn’t loosen seismic design changes or unjustifiably exempt more radioactive byproduct material from licensing,” said Attorney General Bonta. “States like California are aware of the vulnerabilities with aging nuclear reactors, including the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station that was shut down in 2013. The NRC should be doing everything it can to proactively address vulnerabilities and provide strong, independent protection of our environment and public health. This is especially important at a time of anticipated nuclear buildout around the country. Last week, the people made it clear: It’s time for the Trump Administration to stop coddling business interests and focus on the health and safety of the American people instead.” 

BACKGROUND

Recently, the Trump Administration has made many attempts to rewrite nuclear energy protections and expand the country’s fleet of nuclear facilities in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order 14300. On October 5, 2026, NRC continued its wholesale revision of nuclear safety rules with a direct final rule expanding the number of byproduct materials that a person or facility could use without a license, thereby eliminating regulatory oversight. The final rule would expand the number and amounts of exempted byproduct material significantly. This change isn’t based on science but on administrative “efficiency” and reducing “regulatory burden,” which by themselves are insufficient reasons for the deregulation. 

Just prior, on September 24, 2026, NRC announced a proposed rule that would affect the construction, operation, and decommissioning of current traditional reactors and future facilities like advanced nuclear, small modular, and microreactors. The proposed rule would move farther from the current concrete criteria-based regulations to risk-based approaches that are driven more by modeling and decisions by the licensee. Among the many changes in this proposed rule, the action would (1) change the financial qualifications and decommissioning trust fund rules to only require that a licensee appears to be financially qualified, (2) reduce the public’s opportunity to comment on planned decommissioning activities, (3) eliminate nonemergency reporting requirements, and (4) loosen earthquake planning requirements for current and future license applicants. Overall, the proposed rule would reduce independent oversight and public transparency without sufficient justification for the changes.  

Taken together, these actions may harm communities and will result in even less publicly available information about incidents at plants. Given the administration’s push to deploy novel nuclear technologies, more direct NRC oversight with greater transparency is needed; not less. In the comment letters, Attorney General Bonta and the coalitions assert that, among other things, the rulemaking changes: 

• Benefit the nuclear industry at the potential expense of the public, employees, and the environment, in violation of the NRC’s mandate to prioritize public health and safety and the environment.
• Grant too much latitude to licensees to self-regulate by allowing them to make underlying decisions that affect what actions are subject to NRC approval.
• Violate NEPA and the APA because the NRC is acting in excess of its statutory authority and failed to provide sufficient rationale as required by the APA, analysis as required by NEPA, and time for the states and public to review and comment. 

Amidst the Trump Administration’s attempts to change nuclear energy rules, Attorney General Bonta is fighting for clean energy solutions that pursue innovation without unlawfully sacrificing public safety and the environment. In the last few months, he critiqued the Trump Administration’s proposal to relax decommissioning timeline regulations at nuclear facilities and opposed two NRC proposals that would reduce nuclear radiation protection regulations and reactor safety oversight. Attorney General Bonta also opposed the Trump Administration’s attempt to exempt new and experimental nuclear reactors from environmental review. 

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