The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving to let certain nuclear materials be used without a license, in a rule it calls deregulatory. A direct final rule and a companion proposed rule are both scheduled to appear in the Federal Register on Monday, October 5, 2026.
What changes
The rule amends 10 CFR sections 30.12, 30.71, 40.11 and 70.11, covering byproduct, source and special nuclear material. Its main move retires the NRC's own exempt-quantity table, Schedule B, and points to Appendix C of part 20 instead — a longer list, so more radionuclides used in medical, academic and industrial work need no specific license. Three are carved out to keep their current, higher limits: cadmium-109, iridium-192 and zirconium-93 stay exempt up to 10 microcuries each, where Appendix C would have cut them to 1. Other non-alpha-emitting byproduct material keeps a 0.1-microcurie floor — so that nobody exempt today loses the exemption.
The NRC also creates a standing exemption for Department of Energy contractors, who train law enforcement and first responders with radioactive material. Whenever that training happened outside a federal site, the contractor had to ask the NRC — and the state, if it runs its own program — for a one-off exemption. The rule replaces those repeat requests with a blanket exemption for "temporary activities involving the training of law enforcement, emergency response, or other similar personnel," provided the contract specifies safety procedures and quantities stay under the limits the rule sets, such as 150 curies for an iridium-192 sealed source. The NRC estimates $6.1 million in net savings, undiscounted, over 2027 through 2031.
The dates, and the "unless anyone objects" mechanism
A direct final rule takes effect on a set date unless enough people object — and the copy filed for public inspection prints no date at all. Its DATES line reads "This direct final rule is effective [INSERT DATE 75 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]", with a second bracket, 30 days after publication, for objections. Against the scheduled October 5 publication, that is November 4, 2026 to object and December 19, 2026 to take effect — both by this desk's count. The Register's own record for the October 5 issue agrees on November 4 but gives the effective date as December 21, the Monday after this desk's Saturday. Neither is in print yet.
If a significant adverse comment arrives — one that, as the NRC defines it, opposes the rule with a reason serious enough to require a substantive response, or forces a non-editorial change — the NRC will withdraw the direct final rule and answer the comment in a later final rule. That is what the companion proposed rule is for: one comment, filed on regulations.gov under docket NRC-2025-1568, counts against both.
What the NRC says about safety
Both documents say the NRC must still find, under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, that an exemption poses no "unreasonable risk to the common defense and security and to the health and safety of the public." The NRC prepared an environmental assessment and reached a finding of no significant impact. The amended sections are "Compatibility Category B", so states running their own radiation-material programs must match the rule before DOE contractors get the same exemptions there.