I agree with the recent Tribune editorial about nuclear technologies, but it didn’t address the peril of the legal assault on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission uncovered by Michael Riley’s disturbing article in Bloomberg Businessweek, “The risky movement to make America nuclear again.” He describes the efforts backed by President Trump, DOGE, wealthy individuals, and political connections to substantially reduce the NRC’s safety requirements for nuclear reactors. This effort is being led by Oklo-backer Selen Churi, who was successful in getting Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams to persuade Utah’s attorney general to join the lawsuit against the NRC.
Riley describes how Jake DeWitte, the co-founder of Oklo, took six years to complete his doctorate, and didn’t always meet the program’s demands, professors and colleagues say. Kord Smith, who taught DeWitte’s nuclear fuel cycle class and is now emeritus professor of the practice of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, describes him as “the bottom-performing student in the entire class. … Jake had a million-dollar smile and a line of bull**** that never ends.’”
Americans should be concerned about four executive orders Donald Trump signed in May with DeWitt at his side. Even Valar Atomics’ proposed reactor in Utah is led by a high-school dropout, and it has joined the lawsuit against the NRC. “Valar claims on its website that you can safely hold spent nuclear fuel from its reactor for five minutes in the palm of your hand — something that nuclear experts say would quickly kill anyone who tries it.”
Every nuclear reactor requires perfection because there is no room for error. Every failure scenario must have multiple risk mitigation engineering solutions vetted by the NRC.
If the effort to decrease NRC oversight is successful, those involved should bear criminal responsibility when the next nuclear disaster occurs.
Scot Morgan, Salt Lake City
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