PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCATES WARN NEW NRC RULE WILL LIKELYINCREASE RADIOACTVE CONTAMINATION OF US FOOD AND WATER

Contact: Kimberly Roberson, ffan0311@gmail.com‍ ‍Mary Beth Brangan, MBBrangan@protonmail.com

45-Day Public Comment Window Closes August 31st

[San Francisco – August 10, 2026] Public health watchdogs and food safety advocates are sounding the alarm over a quiet but sweeping overhaul in radiation regulation proposed by

the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) [Docket ID: NRC-2025-1140]. The proposed "modernization" package will dismantle radiation safety protections that have been in place for decades, and lead to an unmonitored increase of radioactive isotopes in domestic agricultural soils, rivers, aquifers, and the food chain, advocates warn.

Pursuant to the Trump administration Executive Order 14300 “Reforming and Modernizing the NRC Protection Framework,” the NRC is moving to “scrap” the longstanding “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA) safety standard, which legally required nuclear facility operators to reduce radiation releases to the absolute lowest levels possible. In its place, the NRC is introducing a “graded approach” that establishes “fixed-dose limits” which actually may be determined solely by industry or exempted and largely removes federal oversight for decommissioning plants, waste storage sites, and other radioactive facilities.

The NRC’s proposed new framework evaluates risk based entirely on external exposure at a nuclear power plant fence line, failing to account for internal ingestion of carcinogenic radionuclides that migrate off-site. When alpha and beta-emitting isotopes like Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 enter the food supply they lodge deep inside muscles, organs, and bone marrow, continuously bombarding localized tissue with radiation for decades, and impacting future generations.

According to the NRC’s own analysis, the proposed rollback is projected to nearly double the fatal cancer risk for individuals living near these facilities over a 70-year lifespan, a change designed to save the nuclear industry an estimated mere $9.53 million annually, which is a drop in the bucket compared to cancer treatment cost.

“The NRC is treating radiation exposure like a sunburn, and completely ignoring how radioactive particles behave when ingested,” said Kimberly Roberson, Director of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN). “Existing nuclear radiation standards are not protective enough as it is. By removing the ALARA rule, the government is allowing nuclear facilities to arbitrarily release even more low-level radioactive waste into our air and water. These radionuclides are harmful and don't disappear; they bioaccumulate in local pastures, crops, livestock, milk supplies, and people. Relaxing NRC federal oversight is in direct conflict with the function of a regulatory agency to protect the public and the environment. That function should not be compromised or eliminated by executive orders designed to save the nuclear industry time and money at the expense of public health and safety.”

“If the NRC stops enforcing minimized environmental releases, then the burden would fall on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to police radioactive contamination in our food,” Roberson said. “But the FDA isn’t doing it. Back in 2013 Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Health, Ecological Options Network and FFAN filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA demanding that it significantly lower the allowable levels of cancer-causing Cesium-137 in the US food supply. It’s been 13 years and FDA still has not acted on it. In 2025 we presented our concerns in detail and complained about FDA’s inaction in a letter to HHS and members of Congress. But we’re still waiting for action.”

“It’s unacceptable that NRC is abandoning the ALARA principle in favor of the caveat emptor principle,” Roberson said. “Advocacy groups are demanding not only that the NRC maintain ALARA, but that it strengthen existing protections and do its job, which is to safeguard public health, not industry profits. We urge concerned citizens to file formal comments to the NRC proposed rule this month.”

The comment period ends August 31st. Members of the public can read the NRC proposed rule and officially file their comments by visiting Regulations.gov and inputting Docket ID: NRC-2025-1140. Comments on the proposed NRC rule can also be submitted to the Federal Register by August 31.

Source: Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network https://nislappdc.org/fukushima-fallout/