Wyoming, the NRC Is Rewriting the Nuclear Rulebook Right Now and America Needs YOUR Help!

3–4 minutes

The federal rules governing radiation exposure, nuclear transportation, reactor licensing, medical materials and public access are being rewritten.

Wyoming residents have only days to weigh in. This is not where we can depend on someone else to carry the weight; everyone’s voice matters in this regard. If you need help, reach out to someone who knows how to write a comment to the NRC!

This matters here. Wyoming is considering advanced reactors, nuclear-fuel manufacturing and the transportation of radioactive material. Rules written in Washington could shape how those projects are licensed, operated, inspected and transported through our communities.

August 26: Radioactive transportation packages

Docket NRC-2025-1667 would change certification requirements for packages carrying radioactive material. Among other provisions, the NRC proposes an optional standard allowing certain approved shipments to produce radiation levels as high as 50 millirem per hour at six-and-a-half feet from the vehicle, five times the existing 10-millirem-per-hour limit at that distance.

This proposal is specifically intended to support microreactor transportation. Wyoming residents can ask:

  • What routes could these shipments use?

  • How would local first responders and inspectors be trained?

  • Who would monitor cumulative exposure along frequently used routes?

  • What emergency information would communities receive?

Deadline: August 26 at 9:59 p.m. Mountain Time

Read the proposal and submit a comment

August 31: Radiation-protection standards

Docket NRC-2025-1140 would revise the NRC’s basic radiation-protection framework, including its treatment of the linear no-threshold model and the ALARA principle, which requires exposures to be kept “as low as reasonably achievable.”

These standards reach across reactors, fuel facilities, radioactive-waste activities, transportation and other licensed uses of nuclear material.

Wyoming residents can ask the NRC to explain:

  • What evidence supports each proposed change?

  • How will workers and nearby communities remain protected?

  • Will the NRC continue requiring licensees to reduce avoidable exposure?

  • How will cumulative and long-term exposures be evaluated?

Deadline: August 31 at 9:59 p.m. Mountain Time

Read the proposal and submit a comment

August 31: Reactor licensing, oversight and siting

Docket NRC-2025-0975 proposes broad changes affecting reactor licensing, inspections, environmental review, emergency planning, operating licenses and reactor siting.

For Wyoming, this may be the most far-reaching docket. It could influence how advanced reactors such as TerraPower’s Natrium project and future microreactors are reviewed and overseen.

Residents can request:

  • Meaningful public participation before major licensing decisions

  • Clear emergency-planning requirements

  • Independent inspections and transparent enforcement records

  • Site-specific evaluation of water, wildfire, transportation and waste

  • No accelerated schedule that prevents a complete safety review

Deadline: August 31 at 9:59 p.m. Mountain Time

Read the proposal and submit a comment

September 10: Medical nuclear-material licensing

Docket NRC-2025-1237 would modify licensing, radiation-safety and training requirements for medical uses of radioactive material.

This docket is more focused on hospitals and medical professionals, but patients, radiation workers and Wyoming healthcare providers may also comment.

Read the proposal and submit a comment

September 10: Public access and NRC procedures

Docket NRC-2025-1139 addresses NRC rulemaking procedures, information withholding, advisory committees, access and national-security eligibility standards.

Wyoming residents concerned about transparency should ask whether the changes will preserve public access to records, meetings, supporting evidence and meaningful comment opportunities.

Read the proposal and submit a comment

How to participate

You do not need to be a scientist, lawyer or nuclear engineer.

If you live in the United States, these issues will soon be at a location near you.

State that you are a Wyoming resident, identify the docket number and explain the local issue you want the NRC to address. Use your own words and provide a specific request. Do not include personal information you do not want published because comments become part of the public record and may be submitted anonymously.

***The separate NEPA docket, NRC-2025-0478, closed on August 21 and is no longer an active comment opportunity. Several of Wyoming’s community had chimed in. That’s awesome. There is much work to be done during the quiet time between now and general elections.

The NRC is making decisions that could shape Wyoming’s nuclear future for decades. If Wyoming communities want stronger transportation protections, transparent licensing, careful environmental review and meaningful public oversight, the time to put those concerns into the federal record is now so you and your family are protected for later.

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