Officials from McCracken County and the City of Paducah are encouraging the public to submit comments on a federal rule change that would allow some nuclear projects to bypass environmental reviews.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it had established a new categorical exclusion for authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization and decommissioning of advanced nuclear reactors for inclusion in the DOE’s National Environmental Policy Act implementing procedures.
According to a City of Paducah press release, this means these projects would not need a detailed environmental review if the federal government determines they wouldn’t have significant environmental impacts. The new categorical exclusion follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last year that orders the DOE secretary to “eliminate or expedite the Department’s environmental reviews for authorizations, permits, approvals, leases, and any other activity requested by an applicant or potential applicant” for reactors within certain parameters.
DOE is accepting comments on this categorical exclusion, and will review them to see if any revisions need to be made to it. Comments can be made online through March 4.
