US looking at easing restrictions on radiation exposure at the nation’s nuclear power plants

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent agency aimed at ensuring the safe use of radioactive materials, proposed Wednesday eliminating a standard to keep radiation exposure “as low as is reasonably achievable,” also called ALARA.
• ALARA is based on the linear no-threshold model, which presumes that any dose of radiation carries a proportional risk of harm.
• The commission said in a press release that the proposal would introduce changes, including a graded approach to radiati