Trump's Bold Move: Reshaping the Nuclear Safety Commission
President Donald Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner, Christopher Hanson, from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, challenging established precedent and intensifying control over federal agencies. Hanson’s termination brings to light Trump’s strategic maneuvers to centralize authority by displacing key figures in independent agencies, impacting nuclear safety regulations.
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- United States
In a decisive step, President Donald Trump has dismissed Christopher Hanson, a Democratic commissioner of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), intensifying his control over federal regulatory bodies. The dismissal, executed without any stated cause, challenges traditional norms of independent agency governance.
Hanson, who previously chaired the NRC, criticized the firing, describing it as unlawful and a threat to the agency's independence. President Trump's broader strategy includes consolidating power over agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The administration's moves may wield significant influence over nuclear safety regulations as they aim to increase nuclear power production drastically.
Democratic leaders, including New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone and Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray, and Martin Heinrich, have condemned this action as an overreach of executive authority. With these shifts, concerns regarding the safeguarding of nuclear power plants against political interference are heightened.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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