Tell Your Member of Congress to Preserve Safety: Keep the NRC Independent!

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For decades, the United States has benefited from maintaining the gold standard of nuclear safety through oversight by an independent nuclear regulatory commission (NRC).  

Today, however, the NRC is under attack by the Trump administration:

  • In May, the President issued an executive order that upends the NRC’s independence by prioritizing political decision-making over expertise
  • In June, Trump fired bipartisan NRC Commissioner Christopher Hanson for no reason  
  • Hundreds of staff with technical expertise have left the NRC since the start of the year, with no qualified specialists to replace them

Both the IBEW and nuclear industry benefit from an independent NRC. The NRC provides the regulatory certainty necessary to ensure that IBEW members can uphold the safety principles that define the nuclear industry. IBEW members are highly trained nuclear professionals with unmatched experience operating nuclear facilities. This expertise is why the IBEW represents two-thirds of all nuclear reactors in the United States.

Nuclear power is at a pivotal moment. The nation is confronting rapidly growing demand for carbon-free baseload energy which has renewed interest in both advanced and new large-scale nuclear generation. Thanks to the IBEW-supported ADVANCE Act of 2024, the NRC has even more tools to accelerate nuclear energy deployment, approve power-uprate licenses, and safeguard the safety of the existing reactor fleet.

An unsafe or highly politicized nuclear industry with eroded regulatory standards will jeopardize IBEW members, compromise public safety, and undermine the global credibility of the NRC licensing process. All while introducing unnecessary risk and instability.

📝 Call to Action: Tell your members of Congress to keep the NRC independent!