Survivors Slam Kristi Noem Over FEMA’s Response to Deadly Disasters


FEMA workers say the agency is being gutted under Trump, putting disaster victims at risk.

By Mike Ludwig ,

Truthout

December 16, 2025

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem answers questions from members of congress during the House Committee on Homeland Security on December 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Marvin Joseph / The Washington Post via Getty Images

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is under fire from disaster survivors for mismanaging the federal government’s response to recent storms, floods, and deadly wildfires as staffing cuts and controversial policy changes continue to cause chaos at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Disaster survivors from 10 states and Puerto Rico gathered Monday on Capitol Hill for an emotional press conference to demand accountability from Noem for “systemic failures” at Noem’s department, which oversees FEMA. The survivors said communication shortfalls and mismanagement of emergency relief funds that in some cases caused months-long delays left officials and residents on the ground frustrated and confused after disaster struck.

Among the attendees were survivors of the devastating floods in central Texas, which claimed more than 130 lives in July. The survivors demanded a meeting with Noem and a personal visit from her to the flood-ravaged communities. They also are calling for a congressional hearing on the government’s response to the disaster.

“When FEMA cannot fully function, real people pay the price, and what happened in Sandy Creek cannot be allowed to happen again.”

“When FEMA cannot fully function, real people pay the price, and what happened in Sandy Creek cannot be allowed to happen again,” said Brandy Gerstner, who survived flash floods with her family in Leander, Texas.

The activism from the disaster survivors comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to bring controversy to FEMA. Earlier this month, the Trump administration installed an election denier and conspiracy theorist with no official government disaster response experience as a top administrator at FEMA. Gregg Phillips, a human resource official for the Texas state government, reportedly only has experience responding to disasters with religious groups and nonprofits. In one social media post, Phillips described himself as a “very vocal opponent of FEMA.”

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“The danger posed to our collective communities … is very real,” said one employee who signed a public letter. By Sasha Abramsky , Truthout  August 30, 2025

Rafael Lemaitre, a former FEMA public affairs director and member of the advisory council to Sabotaging Our Safety, a FEMA watchdog group, said the hiring of Phillips to manage FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery is part of a larger pattern of dismantling FEMA piece by piece.

“The only thing Gregg Phillips seems qualified for is running the Flat Earth Society — yet Trump put him in charge of saving American lives,” Lemaitre told Truthout in an email. “This clearly isn’t about keeping Americans safe when disaster strikes.”

Then, on December 12, officials abruptly canceled a much-anticipated meeting of a FEMA review council after significant changes made by Noem’s office to a report recommending sweeping cuts to FEMA leaked to the media. The three officials, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue with the media, said the report shrunk from over 160 pages to roughly 20.

Created by a policy “review council” created by Trump, the draft report recommends a dramatic overhaul and downsizing of FEMA, including a 50 percent reduction in staff. Noem’s office reportedly made significant cuts to the review council’s draft and rejected some of the recommendations. The report is now undergoing additional internal vetting and has not been released publicly, according to The Washington Post.

CNN first reported on the leaked policy recommendations, which include changing the name of the agency to “FEMA 2.0” at least temporarily.

“It is time to close the chapter on FEMA,” the draft report states. “A new agency should be established that retains the core missions of FEMA, while highlighting the renewed emphasis on locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported emergency management.”

Such an overhaul at FEMA would leave cities and states shouldering the costs of disaster preparation, response, and recovery — costs most states cannot afford — and put disaster victims at risk of serious harm, especially those with fewer financial resources, according to Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“That means the next time a hurricane or horrific wildfires materialize we may again experience a disturbing FEMA fiasco on par with Hurricane Katrina, as FEMA staff warned about in their recent petition to Congress,” Udvardy said in a statement on December 12.

Udvardy was referring to The FEMA Katrina Declaration, a petition against the Trump administration’s FEMA overhaul organized by current and former FEMA workers. The petition states that key Trump appointees running FEMA have little experience in emergency management, and points to Hurricane Katrina as a warning. FEMA’s infamous failure to assist stranded Black residents of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005 left a racist stain on the administration of President George W. Bush, which helped pave the way for the election of President Barack Obama in 2008.

Fast forward 20 years, and communities in central Texas are still recovering from deadly flash floods unleashed by storms over the summer. Abby McIlraith, an emergency management specialist at FEMA, said she joined colleagues and signed the Katrina Declaration to call out the Trump administration for harming disaster survivors after the floods claimed dozens of lives in Kerrville, Texas. A day after the petition was published, McIlraith and other whistleblowers were placed on leave.

“Secretary Noem took only 36 hours to illegally retaliate against us as whistleblowers, but 72 hours — twice as long — to send search and rescue to Kerrville,” McIlraith told reporters on December 15. “Her insistence on personally approving major FEMA expenses, combined with these retaliatory actions, left disaster survivors waiting for help when hours and days mattered most.”

Gerstner said her family in Leander felt abandoned by FEMA and local authorities after flash floods destroyed the life they built over the past 36 years, including three homes, a business, and their sense of safety. The flood is fading from the local headlines, but Gerstner said the community is still struggling with recovery months later.


“We lost neighbors, were stranded for days without help, and watched as FEMA response was delayed while families were left to survive on their own.”

“We lost neighbors, were stranded for days without help, and watched as FEMA response was delayed while families were left to survive on their own,” Gerstner said. “More than five months later, many are still homeless, and only 36 percent of FEMA claims in our area have been approved.”

Victims of a federally recognized disaster can file claims with FEMA for financial assistance to cover the cost of emergency repairs, transportation, and hotel rooms when homes are destroyed, for example. It’s a notoriously slow and byzantine process disaster victims have complained about for years. Federal emergency funds only become available to states and local communities after the president issues an official disaster declaration, often in response to a request from a state governor and a recommendation from FEMA.

Since taking office, Trump has made it clear that he wants to shift the financial burden of disaster relief from the federal government to the states and has suggested phasing out FEMA altogether, a position Noem echoed in interviews. Dismantling FEMA entirely would require an act of Congress, but the Trump administration did not wait on lawmakers to slash staff and budgets at the agency while shifting DHS resources toward Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Advocates and disaster survivors say emergency relief for communities impacted by fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters has been delayed for months at a time as a result of the Trump administration’s assault on FEMA.

For example, FEMA announced on December 12 it would send $350 million to local governments and electric utilities in Georgia for relief efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Debby, which both hit in 2024. The payment comes two months after Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) released a report showing that nearly $500 million in Hurricane Helene disaster relief was unpaid, according to the Associated Press.

“Hurricanes and natural disasters are not political; they do not care if you voted red or blue, and Georgia counties and cities went right to work recovering from Helene’s destruction with the understanding the federal government would fulfill its promises and pay their share,” Warnock said in a statement. “It should not have gotten to this point.”

Dr. Michael McLemore, a local organizer with community and racial justice groups in St. Louis, Missouri, survived a violent tornado that devastated residential areas and claimed at least five lives on May 16. McLemore said he lost the roof of his house and witnessed “our community’s systems fail at every level.” Trump did not declare the tornado a federal disaster until June 10, which delayed FEMA’s response.

“Sirens didn’t sound, local officials delayed response, and FEMA, under Secretary Kristi Noem, was nearly a month late in declaring a major disaster — leaving seniors and residents without transportation to fend for themselves,” McLemore said.

Like other disaster survivors, McLemore supports the 2025 FEMA Act, a bipartisan bill that would make FEMA an independent, cabinet-level agency and make major reforms to streamline the process for providing disaster relief. Introduced in the House by leaders of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from both parties, the bill has 40 bipartisan co-sponsors but remains in committee as the House Republican majority struggles to pass even basic legislation.

“Disasters don’t discriminate, but disaster recovery does,” McLemore said.

 

AMS Science Preview: Railways and cyclones; pinned clouds; weather warnings in wartime

Early online research from journals of the American Meteorological Society

American Meteorological Society

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The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form. Below are some recent examples of online and early-online research.

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JOURNAL ARTICLES

Remote Effects of Urbanization on Temperatures in Adjacent Cities: A Case Study in Utah
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Adjacent urban areas appear to exacerbate each other’s heat island effects. A modeling study of greater Salt Lake City (SLC) and the smaller Utah cities of Ogden and Provo suggests that SLC may raise the temperature in neighboring urban areas by up to 1°C. The smaller cities also amplify heat effects in SLC.

The Critical Need for Hindcast Infrastructure in Climate Science and Sectoral Applications
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

U.S. hindcasting infrastructure is “fragile and underfunded” compared with Europe. Re-running an old forecast with a new component added (hindcasting) allows researchers to correct errors and test how much a new technique or technology improves forecasting. Hindcasts are vital to many sectors, yet this paper’s authors find that the forecast archives on which U.S.-specific hindcasts depend are patchy and underfunded.

“The U.S. currently has an underfunded, fragile hindcast archive infrastructure upon which a tremendous amount of investment and decision support depends. It is critical that our hindcast archive infrastructure be brought into the 21st century.”

Monitoring Microscale Heat Stress Patterns in a Medium-Dense Urban Area with Green Spaces
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Trees beat buildings for urban shade. This study finds that consumer-grade portable measurement devices can provide useful assessments of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT, a heat stress measure) across urban “microenvironments.” Using these observations, the authors found that buildings either increased or decreased urban WBGT depending on the side of the building measured; tree shade decreased WBGT by 3.5 °C., making trees more reliable against heat stress. At night, unpaved surfaces reduce heat stress by 0.8 °C WBGT.

Assessing Tropical Cyclone Risks to China’s High-Speed Rail Network
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

China’s high-speed rail network is vulnerable to tropical cyclones. 42.7% of the China Railway High-speed (CRH) network is exposed to areas with elevated tropical cyclone risk, and 26 of the 30 busiest CRH lines face elevated risks across multiple sections of their routes, the authors find. The Beijing–Shanghai line, the busiest in the network, exhibits risk exposure across 99.8% of its total length, underscoring the need to improve resilience and warning systems.

Pinned Clouds over Industrial Sources of Heat during TRACER
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Industrial facilities create “pinned clouds.” Stereo cameras in a research campaign monitoring aerosols and convection in Houston, Texas, show that around dawn, seemingly stationary plumes of cloud often appear over gas-fired power plant facilities. These “pinned” clouds are not steam emanating from industrial chimneys but rather the result of air rising after being warmed over industrial heating sources. They can stay in the same place for over an hour.

What are the Costs of Heat Spell Mortality in Europe's Urban Areas up to 2050?
Weather, Climate, and Society

Heat waves, pollution interact to drive up cardiopulmonary deaths. Heat-related cardiopulmonary disease (CPD) deaths could triple by mid-century in Europe and Asia minor, costing €90 billion annually in welfare economic costs. The study also finds a strong link between air pollution and heat-related CPD deaths, suggesting that combating air pollution could prevent up to 190,000 heat-related deaths by 2050.

Weathering Conflict: Impacts and Solutions for Protecting Hydrometeorological Infrastructure during Armed Conflict
Weather, Climate, and Society

Armed conflict compromises forecasts and disaster warnings. Damage to weather observing stations and similar infrastructure by armed groups exacerbates disaster risk in conflict zones, according to an analysis of weather and water data combined with conflict reports and expert interviews. The authors found that “conflict limits the collection, protection, and storage of hydrometeorological observations, which are crucial for producing weather forecasts and warnings [and that] hydrometeorological infrastructure has been directly destroyed and damaged by armed groups.”

Characterizing the Relation between Lightning and Wildfires in the Western United States
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Fire-igniting lightning strikes are flashier. Lighting flashes that ignite wildfires are “larger and 3–4 times brighter” than average strikes, and tend to come from weaker, drier storms, according to a study of U.S. western wildfires using data from the National Lightning Detection Network, Geostationary Lightning Mapper, and radar. The study also finds that 11% of ignition-causing flashes have been misclassified as intra-cloud strikes.

Amplified Global Seasonality in Water Availability over Land in Recent Decades
Journal of Climate

Dry seasons getting drier with global warming. Using data from 2000 to 2020, the authors find that the range of seasonal water availability has increased significantly worldwide, primarily driven by water availability minimums sinking lower (with ever-higher levels of evaporation compared with precipitation). According to the authors, this "underscores the growing imbalance in global seasonal water availability with climate warming."

Convective Mode Classification and Distribution of Contiguous United States Tornado Events from 2003–2023
Weather and Forecasting

Tornado weather changes. Analysis of 2003–23 data reveals different distributions for two tornado-producing weather types. Supercell thunderstorms that produce tornadoes were more frequent over a wider area of the U.S., but declined in frequency over the study period. Quasi-linear convective systems (QLCS) that produce tornadoes were concentrated further to the East; QLCS tornado frequency increased over the measured period, though these tornadoes tended to be weaker.

You can view all research published in AMS Journals at journals.ametsoc.org.

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About the American Meteorological Society

The American Meteorological Society advances the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of around 12,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts. AMS publishes 12 atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic science journals; hosts more than 12 conferences annually; and offers numerous programs and services. Visit us at www.ametsoc.org/.

About AMS Journals

The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Some AMS journals are open access. Media login credentials are available for subscription journals. Journals include the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Weather, Climate, and Society, the Journal of Climate, and Monthly Weather Review.

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Journal

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Sheriff says Tennessee explosives factory blast left no survivors

A blast on Friday at the rural Tennessee Accurate Energetic Systems plant, which supplies and researches explosives for the military, left no survivors, authorities said, adding that the 16 people inside the building are presumed to be deceased.


Issued on: 11/10/2025 - 
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: FRANCE 24

A fire truck leaves Accurate Energetic Systems, an explosives plant, after a blast resulted in multiple fatalities and others missing Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Bucksnort, Tennessee © John Amis, AP
01:27


The blast in rural Tennessee that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around left no survivors, authorities said Saturday.

The total number of dead was unclear, as was the cause of the Friday blast. By the weekend the devastation came into focus, with officials saying they'd found no survivors.

“There’s a gauntlet of emotions there,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said during a news conference, pausing to clear his throat before he asked for prayers for the families of the victims in a shaky voice.

“We’ve recovered no survivors,” he added.

Officials said Friday 16 people were missing and Saturday said it could be assumed anyone who was inside the building is deceased.

State officials brought in a “rapid DNA” team to help identify the remains of people recovered at the site. The explosion left a smoldering wreck of twisted metal and burned-out vehicles at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant, which supplies and researches explosives for the military.

Davis said about 300 responders are working in a “slow, methodical method” as they deal with explosive material that has been damaged and remains volatile. An ambulance and a helicopter used for air evacuations were brought in, for the safety of first responders.

“It’s not like working an accident. It’s not like working a tornado. We’re dealing with explosions. And I would say at this time, we’re dealing with remains,” he said.

Guy McCormick, a supervisory special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said explosive specialists and bomb technicians are trying to make the area safe before national ATF investigators arrive. He said the nature of the scene can change because of the heat and pressure caused by the explosion.

Davis said it could be days, weeks or even months before foul play is ruled out.

The site is located in a heavily wooded area of middle Tennessee, between the economically vital Tennessee River to the west and the bustling metropolis of Nashville to the east. Modest homes dot the wooded landscape, residences belonging to “good old country people,” as local man Terry Bagsby put it.

Bagsby, 68, is retired but he helps out working the register at a gas station near the site. He said people in the close-knit community are “very, very sad.”

He said he knows people who worked at the site and are missing.

“I don’t know how to explain it. … Just a lot of grief.”

The company’s website says it processes explosives and ammunition at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville. It's not immediately known how many people work at the plant or how many were there when the explosion happened.

Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, said in a post on social media on Friday that their “thoughts and prayers" are with the families and community impacted.

“We extend our gratitude to all first responders who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions,” the post said.

The company has been awarded numerous military contracts, largely by the US Army and Navy, to supply different types of munitions and explosives, according to public records. The products range from bulk explosives to landmines and small breaching charges, including C4.

When the explosion occurred, residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, said they felt their homes shake, and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.

The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.

“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he told The Associated Press. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee posted on the social platform X that he is monitoring the situation and asked “Tennesseans to join us in prayer for the families impacted by this tragic incident.”

A small group gathered for a vigil Friday night at a nearby park, clutching candles as they prayed for the missing and their families and sang “Amazing Grace."

The US has a long history of deadly accidents at workplaces, including the Monongah coal mine explosion that killed 362 men and boys in West Virginia in 1907. Several high-profile industrial accidents in the 1960s helped lead President Richard Nixon to sign a law creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the next year.

In 2019, Accurate Energetic Systems faced several small fines from the US Department of Labor for violations of policies meant to protect workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals, radiation and other irritants, according to citations from OSHA.

In 2014, an explosion occurred at another ammunition facility in the same small community, killing one person and injuring at least three others.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

 

University of Oklahoma leads collaboration to transform fire weather warnings

University of Oklahoma

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NORMAN, Okla. – When U.S. citizens are faced with the threat of tornadoes or hurricanes, a unified system issues short-term warnings. But nationally, individuals facing wildfire threats have no such system to rely on. A team of researchers, led by Joe Ripberger from the University of Oklahoma, is looking to change that, and a recent grant from the National Science Foundation will fund their groundbreaking work.

Current warning systems for wildfires and wildfire conditions vary from location to location. Red flag warnings are issued a day or two in advance to highlight areas where conditions are ripe for wildfires, but these warnings are relatively large, sometimes the size of a full state or region.

“When you think about a warning like a tornado warning, you think about something in a very small spatial area, about the size of a county or a city, and you know that a tornado is likely to come in the next 20 to 30 minutes. We don’t have a nationwide system like that for wildfires right now,” said Ripberger, deputy director for research at the Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (IPPRA), the lead principal investigator on the grant.

This is not the first time Ripberger has done research on weather warning systems. He and his colleagues have studied warnings for tornadoes, hurricanes and floods.

“Those are all areas where we’ve worked really closely with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service on improving and measuring improvements to warning systems,” said Ripberger. This will be the first time they focus specifically on fire.

Over the last few years, National Weather Service offices in Oklahoma and Texas have been collaborating with state Forestry Services and local emergency managers to issue fire warnings, Ripberger said.

“While National Weather Service fire warnings can technically be issued anywhere in the country, in reality, they haven’t spread much beyond Oklahoma and Texas. One of the main goals of our NSF project is to take what we’ve been doing here, and what we’ve learned, and see how or if it can apply across the rest of the country,” said Ripberger.

The system’s potential was demonstrated during a major fire event in March of this year, when Oklahoma experienced over 100 fires across the state. Through coordinated efforts between the National Weather Service, state forestry and emergency management agencies, warnings were successfully issued for many of the fires, providing advance notice to populations in their path.

“It’s incredible the amount of coordination that was necessary to get information out there and issue those warnings, especially on a day where they had to focus throughout the state rather than on one large fire,” said Ripberger.

Fire and fire weather are different from other types of severe weather threats. A combination of atmospheric and surface conditions governs fires themselves, and surface conditions add an additional challenge to the warning system.

“You have to consider what the land surface and the fuel on the ground looks like in terms of how likely it is to burn, along with what the atmosphere is doing,” said Ripberger.

Once a fire has developed, its own existence affects the atmosphere. In some cases, fires can even generate their own weather systems, including thunderstorms and tornadoes, creating feedback loops that affect both fire behavior and atmospheric conditions.

In addition to the complications presented by fire itself, the necessity of collaboration across entities makes a fire warning system even more challenging. A tornado warning is issued by a single individual at the National Weather Service, while the developing program for fire warnings requires a great deal of communication between various offices.

Three thrusts will fuel this research. First, scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations will work to understand fire and atmospheric interactions better to develop the basic scientific knowledge necessary to issue fire warnings.  

The second thrust focuses on the social and behavioral science questions of the project: what such a warning would look like, what kind of governance jurisdiction conflicts come into play in a fire situation and how people respond to fire warnings. This work will be led by researchers at IPPRA.

The third and final thrust is to build FireNet, a transdisciplinary network connecting people who study fire with practitioners such as the weather service and state and federal employees.

“Hopefully, these partners will become our champions as we work to develop a new system. If we integrate them with the research process early on, they can shape what we’re doing. They can inform and also learn, so when the project comes to an end, they can work with us to build a road map that says if we want to be in a position to have a unified fire warning system in the United States five years from now, here’s what that will require,” said Ripberger.

The project involves 11 senior researchers across four University of Oklahoma entities and its partners: IPPRA, the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, the State Climatology Office and the Oklahoma Fire and Mesonet teams. While the three-year project won’t produce an operational warning system, it will establish the foundational science and stakeholder relationships necessary to eventually implement a unified national approach to wildfire warnings.

FEMA Employees Speak Out After Attacks on Workers Warning of Looming Disaster

“The danger posed to our collective communities … is very real,” said one employee who signed a public letter.

By Sasha Abramsky ,

Truthout

August 30, 2025

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sign is displayed at the entrances to their headquarters on June 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Kevin Carter / Getty Images

Nearly 200 employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) signed an extraordinary letter sent to Congress on August 25, denouncing the current administration’s erosion of their work and warning that it risks the occurrence of another Hurricane Katrina-sized disaster. More than 30 provided their names; the rest signed anonymously.

Named the Katrina Declaration, the letter was one of the most powerful written so far by beleaguered federal employees attempting to salvage their agencies from a predatory administration seemingly intent on bulldozing basic government functions. They have followed up on this by asking people around the country to join them in their protest by endorsing the letter.

“I knew that if I didn’t sign this letter I would feel as though I was failing in my duty to protect the public I swore an oath to serve; that I would feel complicit in the false narratives this administration has been working so hard to drive about their intentions with FEMA when I’ve seen only evidence to the contrary,” one of the signatories told me. Like most of those who spoke to me, she requested anonymity, fearing retribution from the Trump administration. “In the end, I knew that more people would die if I did not help raise the alarm. So I did. And I am. And I will continue to do so.”

The authors didn’t pull punches, arguing that the administration is violating the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which Congress passed in 2006 to improve FEMA’s performance after the agency’s dismal failures following the devastation the hurricane wrought upon New Orleans twenty years ago this week. The Trumpified Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent department to FEMA, is slashing funding to vital FEMA services. And the department is insisting that all grants in excess of $100,000 be personally approved by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — a choice that has created a huge backlog in contracts.

Due to the new influx in red tape, residents of states facing the aftermath of natural disasters, such as Texas, which faced devastating floods in July; and North Carolina, which suffered huge storm-related losses earlier this year, have already faced huge delays in receiving assistance from FEMA. Contractors who run phone help lines and other vital services connecting the public to the agency have been mothballed and specialists have been taken off their regular jobs to help staff these cratering phone systems. Throughout the year, the department has systematically placed obstacles in the way of disaster preparedness and risk-mitigation programs around the country. And it has blocked all climate change-related disaster preparation and mitigation work, as well as analysis of future risks generated by climate change, despite the overwhelming evidence indicating climate change is real and is accelerating.

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“Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration,” the FEMA signatories explained in their letter. “We the undersigned — current and former FEMA workers — have come together to sound the alarm to our administrators, the US Congress, and the American people so that we can continue to lawfully uphold our individual oaths of office and serve our country as our mission dictates.”

“I desperately want it [the letter] to make a difference,” Katherine Landers told Truthout. A geospatial risk analyst, Landers helps generate the census tract-level National Risk Index — used by home-owners, businesses, town planners and insurance companies to estimate potential environmental hazards facing neighborhoods throughout the country. “I don’t want this to be in vain,” Landers said.

Landers was motivated to sign the letter by a growing sense of horror at how vulnerable the administration was leaving the general public to disasters, due to the cuts and the bureaucratic requirements they were imposing on FEMA staff. In particular, she was stunned by the war on science. And she, along with her colleagues, was outraged at how chaotic the response was to the deadly floods in Texas this summer — and by the fact that the contractors who ought to have been helping flood victims apply for relief funds and other services weren’t able to work because Noem hadn’t approved their contracts.

In December 2024, Landers and her colleagues released a Future Risk Index, based on years of climate change research from FEMA and other government science agencies. The index analyzed how risks from a slew of natural hazards would shift over the coming years as climate change accelerated, and also identified which communities would be left most vulnerable. In February 2025, in the wake of Trump’s executive orders clamping down on climate change research and anything that could be seen as bolstering diversity, equity, and inclusion, FEMA was forced to remove the index — taking offline not only the climate change research but also the analysis of how differing socio-economic conditions would create disparate impacts across different communities in the face of a warming planet. Landers and her colleagues were also sent a long list of climate change-related words that they were no longer allowed to keep up on their website. “The executive orders are forcing us to turn a blind eye to where the best science is,” Landers said. “It’s forcing us to turn our heads and completely ignore the science. It’s scary. Our hands are tied right now.”

Days after the letter was released, the more than 30 staff who had gone public with their names, Landers among them, were summarily placed on administrative leave, locked out of their government email accounts, and ordered not to work and not to enter the FEMA offices.

Truthout spoke to three other signatories who asked to remain anonymous given the continued blowback to the letter. “It was very sudden,” one said. “I was at work and we all received emails that we were placed on administrative leave.” She continued, “We’re in a state of purgatory. We can’t do our jobs but we’re also not free to do anything else. That’s very unusual.”

But the suspensions haven’t succeeded in stopping the growing chorus of outrage at the administration’s gutting of the agency. One signatory talked about the massive brain drain that FEMA is experiencing as employees are fired, quit, or take early retirement — upwards of thirty percent of the permanent full-time staff have been lost since Trump’s inauguration — leading to a broad loss of institutional knowledge.

Another, who works on FEMA’s mitigation strategies, likened the agency to the hub of a wheel, helping to coordinate disaster preparation, mitigation and response strategies with community groups, residents, and local governments around the country. “Without the hub,” she explained, “your spokes don’t fit in; your wheel can’t turn.” She said some employees are so down-in-the-dumps because of the cuts that they are getting ill and taking sick days, while others are so demoralized that they are even taking leave without pay, finding it too stressful to work in such a toxic environment.

A third talked about the extraordinary levels of burnout, and the rock-bottom morale plaguing employees. She expressed her fear that the government is so under-prepared as hurricane season gets underway that it will almost certainly cost lives.

There is a sense among FEMA employees that the country is perched on an abyss, and that at some point a major disaster will occur that a denuded agency cannot even begin to address. “The public is currently staring down the barrel of a gun held by the administration as it plays Russian Roulette, with natural disasters serving as the bullet. It may not be the next pull of the trigger — or tomorrow — but the outcome is inevitable unless meaningful, lasting change, as outlined in the Katrina Declaration, is implemented and with haste,” one of the signatories explained. “And this isn’t just hyperbole for the sake of it; the danger posed to our collective communities, especially those on the coast, in tornado alley, or in areas prone to fire and flooding, is very real.”


This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist and a part-time lecturer at the University of California at Davis. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, New York Magazine, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone. He also writes a weekly political column. Originally from England, with a bachelor’s in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he now lives in Sacramento, California.

Germany's Nuclear U-Turn Divides Leadership

By Haley Zaremba - Jul 02, 2025

• Germany is showing increasing openness to nuclear energy, a significant departure from its historical opposition, leading to a divide within its government leadership.
• 
  
• The German Economy Minister, Katherina Reiche, is engaging with pro-nuclear EU members, while Environment Minister Carsten Schneider remains strongly opposed to nuclear power.
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• This shift in Germany, along with other European nations and the World Bank, reflects a broader global movement towards recognizing nuclear energy's role in energy security and climate goals.
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Germany is increasingly indicating openness to nuclear energy, marking a complete pivot from their historic stance on the controversial energy source. Germany’s shift in attitude toward nuclear energy comes as part of a larger global movement back toward nuclear power as a viable part of a secure and low-carbon energy landscape. 

Last month, German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche opted to join a meeting with pro-nuclear European Union members instead of attending a gathering of states dedicated to renewables, marking a major fracturing of the German government’s stance on the future of European energy. While Reiche is rubbing elbows with nuclear energy proponents, the nation’s Environment Minister Carsten Schneider remains staunchly opposed to changing Germany’s staunchly anti-nuclear stance.

"We have decided to phase out nuclear power. This has also been accepted by society," Schneider was recently quoted by Deutsche Welle (DW). "There are no further commitments [to the nuclear industry], nor will there be any," he went on to say. Germany took its last three nuclear power plants offline in 2023. 

DW reports that the disaccord over nuclear power between Germany’s Energy and Economy Ministers has already been apparent for some time now. Back in May, Reiche said in Brussels (where the European Union is headquartered) that she was "open to all technologies” as a part of Germany’s energy policy, and agreed to make peace with French officials by dropping anti-nuclear rhetoric from European Union legislation. This marks a major departure from Germany’s traditional stance. 

Germany’s deep-held opposition to nuclear power is the product of historical politicking rather than a reckoning with current energy realities, which have rapidly shifted in the long wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine. A 2024 report from The Conversation explains that Germany’s complete phase-out of nuclear energy production “can only be understood in the context of post-war socio-political developments in Germany, where anti-nuclearism predated the public climate discourse.” According to that report, vehement anti-nuclear discourse of the time can be credited to “a distrust of technocracy; ecological, environmental and safety fears; suspicions that nuclear energy could engender nuclear proliferation; and general opposition to concentrated power (especially after its extreme consolidation under the Nazi dictatorship).”

But now, it would appear that Germany can’t afford to maintain its anti-nuclear ideology. The German economy and energy sector was pummeled by energy sanctions on Russia, as the country was reliant on the Kremlin for a whopping 50% of its natural gas supplies when Russia first invaded Ukraine. While Germany has not made any significant moves to shift its own domestic nuclear energy policy, the fact that leadership is not unilaterally antagonistic toward the technology is a big deal in national and European politics. 

The shift comes as part of a broader sea change in favor of nuclear energy in Europe. In just the past few months alone, the governments of Italy and Denmark initiated motions to overturn their respective 40-years ban on nuclear power production, and Spain signalled openness to extending the lives of its nuclear plants previously slated for phaseout. 

This re-embrace of nuclear energy is not limited to Europe. Globally, nuclear energy is gaining ground as one of the strongest solutions for successfully balancing energy security needs with climate goals. Nuclear energy is a proven technology with zero carbon emissions, and can be built up practically anywhere, especially with emerging small modular reactor models. 

Just last month, the World Bank overturned its own ban on funding nuclear energy projects, a move that will spread the reach of nuclear energy in the developing world and likely influence other development banks to follow suit. Lauren Hughes, deputy director of the Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative, recently told the Atlantic Council that taken together, these major policy decisions “indicate that nuclear is coming back into favor and being recognized for its ability to provide reliable baseload power.” 

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

World Nuclear News

Emergency repairs for Chernobyl shelter 'might top EUR100 million'

Thursday, 3 July 2025

The giant New Safe Confinement shelter over the remains of Chernobyl's unit 4 was damaged by a drone in February with an initial EUR42.5 million (USD50 million) already pledged for repair work.

(Image: EBRD)

The European Union will contribute EUR25 million, the United Kingdom will contribute EUR6.7 million and France EUR10.6 million. The pledges came during a meeting of the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account held at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD said the drone strike: "Has severely affected the New Safe Confinement's two primary functions: (i) containing radiological hazards and (ii) supporting long-term decommissioning. Key systems designed to ensure the NSC’s 100-year lifespan have been rendered non-operational, with a significant risk of further deterioration in the absence of swift emergency repairs. While it is difficult to provide an accurate estimate of the cost of repairs to the NSC at the moment, the scale of the damage and the complex radiological environment suggest that the total cost of the emergency works could exceed EUR100 million."

Chernobyl NPP said the contributions "are a crucial step toward ensuring the continuation of the New Safe Confinement restoration work".

A grant agreement was signed on Wednesday between the plant in Ukraine and the EBRD to fund a project which aims to assess the damage and develop a plan of emergency repairs to the outer cladding and membrane, which were damaged by the drone and subsequent fire.

The work also involves assessing the state of the concrete structures, end walls and foundations and a detailed plan of work to carry out the repairs.

Balthasar Lindauer, EBRD Nuclear Safety Department Director, said the pledged donations were a "manifestation of the international community’s unwavering support" for Chernobyl.

The shelter

Chernobyl unit 4 was destroyed in the April 1986 accident (you can read more about it in the World Nuclear Association's Chernobyl Accident information paper) with a shelter constructed in a matter of months to encase the damaged unit, which allowed the other units at the plant to continue operating. It still contains the molten core of the reactor and an estimated 200 tonnes of highly radioactive material.

However it was not designed for the very long-term, and so the New Safe Confinement - the largest moveable land-based structure ever built - was constructed to cover a much larger area including the original shelter. The New Safe Confinement has a span of 257 metres, a length of 162 metres, a height of 108 metres and a total weight of 36,000 tonnes and was designed for a lifetime of about 100 years. It was built nearby in two halves which were moved on specially constructed rail tracks to the current position, where it was completed in 2019.

It has two layers of internal and external cladding around the main steel structure - about 12 metres apart - with both breached in the drone incident. The NSC was designed to allow for the eventual dismantling of the ageing makeshift shelter from 1986 and the management of radioactive waste. It is also designed to withstand temperatures ranging from -43°C to +45°C, a class-three tornado, and an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.

According to World Nuclear Association, the hermetically-sealed New Safe Confinement allows "engineers to remotely dismantle the 1986 structure that has shielded the remains of the reactor from the weather since the weeks after the accident. It will enable the eventual removal of the fuel-containing materials in the bottom of the reactor building and accommodate their characterisation, compaction, and packing for disposal. This task represents the most important step in eliminating nuclear hazard at the site - and the real start of dismantling".

The New Safe Confinement was financed via the Chernobyl Shelter Fund which was run by the EBRD. It received EUR1.6 billion (USD1.7 billion) from 45 donor countries and the EBRD provided EUR480 million of its own resources.

US regulator accelerates review of Natrium permit

Thursday, 3 July 2025

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission now expects to complete its review of TerraPower's construction licence application for the Natrium advanced reactor demonstration project by the end of 2025, ahead of the original August 2026 date.

A rendering of a Natrium plant (Image: TerraPower)

Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor using high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, with a molten salt-based energy storage system that can boost the system’s output to 500 MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. TerraPower plans to build the Natrium demonstration plant near a retiring coal facility at Kemmerer in Wyoming.

TerraPower was the first developer to submit a construction permit application for a commercial advanced reactor to the NRC in March 2024.

In February this year, the NRC acknowledged it was ahead of schedule on safety review and said it expected to complete its review of TerraPower's application by June 2026, two months earlier than originally expected. In May, the regulator exempted the energy production and energy storage portion of the plant from its review, paving the way for construction on half the Natrium plant to begin this year.

The NRC has now said that it has "set a more aggressive schedule and aims to complete its review by the end of 2025".

It noted: "Frequent and productive engagements with TerraPower, along with other efficiency gains, mean the NRC could complete reviews by 31 December 2025, six months ahead of the current schedule. The accelerated timeline depends on a continued commitment from TerraPower to resolve the remaining issues in a timely manner."

TerraPower said that its regulatory strategy has been "built on providing thorough technical content and robust engagement opportunities to discuss the Natrium technology and design with regulators".

"This acknowledgement by the NRC that our application can be completed more quickly than originally anticipated is a testament to the incredible work by our Natrium team and the support for advanced reactors at the federal level," said TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque. "President Trump has been instrumental in both founding the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program and supporting rapid deployment of advanced reactors. Streamlining reviews is a commonsense solution that will accelerate permitting schedules; and proves that we can bring safe, well-vetted American technologies to market faster and compete on the global stage."

A ground-breaking ceremony held in June last year marked the start of non-nuclear construction at the Kemmerer site. Nuclear construction will begin after the application is approved. TerraPower envisages commercial operation of the plant starting in 2031.

The NRC noted that if it issues the construction permit for the Kemmerer plant, TerraPower would need to submit a separate application for a licence to operate it.

Westinghouse, Radiant to perform first US microreactor tests

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

The US Department of Energy has made conditional selections for Westinghouse and Radiant Nuclear to perform the first tests in the National Reactor Innovation Center's Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments test bed at the Idaho National Laboratory.

A rendering of the Kaleidos microreactor arriving at the DOME facility (Image: Ryan Seper/Radiant)

The test bed - Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) - will repurpose the Experimental-Breeder Reactor-II containment structure at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This, the Department of Energy (DOE) says, will lessen the environmental footprint and save companies money in the testing process, as well as reducing overall project risk.

In October 2023, Radiant, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation and Westinghouse were awarded DOE funding totalling USD3.9 million for front-end engineering and experiment design of their respective microreactor designs in DOME.

DOE has now announced that Westinghouse and Radiant have been selected to perform the first microreactor tests in DOME.

Westinghouse will test the eVinci Nuclear Test Reactor to inform the development of its commercial transportable microreactor that uses advanced heat pipe technology to passively cool the reactor. The eVinci reactor is designed to produce 5 MWe on sites as small as two acres of land and could be used to power various applications from remote communities to mining operations or data centres. The eVinci test reactor is a scaled-down 3 MWt version.

Radiant will test the Kaleidos Development Unit to advance the company's commercial 1.2 MWe high-temperature gas reactor design as a potential replacement for diesel generators. The electric power generator, cooling system, reactor, and shielding are all packaged in a single shipping container, facilitating rapid deployment.

Both companies are currently working through the multi-phase DOE authorisation process to support the design, fabrication, construction, and testing of each fueled reactor experiment.

According to the DOE, the first fueled reactor experiment will start as early as spring 2026. It estimates each DOME reactor experiment will operate up to six months.

The testing campaigns are self-funded by the applicants with the sequencing of experiments based on several criteria, including technology readiness, fuel availability, and a regulatory approval plan. Both companies are expected to meet certain milestones throughout the process to maintain their allotted time in DOME and to ensure efficient use of the test bed.

"Microreactors will play a big role in expanding the use of nuclear power in the United States," said Mike Goff, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. "These DOME experiments will test new reactor designs that will be counted on in the future to reliably power our homes, military bases, and mission critical infrastructure."

DOE recently closed its first round of applications for scheduling experiments in DOME. It said the next call for applications is anticipated to be in the summer of 2026.

UK study says Midlands sites suitable for nuclear new build

Thursday, 3 July 2025

A siting study has identified 21 sites in the Midlands region of central England that could potentially support 20 GWe of new nuclear generating capacity in the nearer term. Two sites were selected as the region's most strategic nuclear deployment opportunities.

(Image: Midlands Nuclear)

The siting study was commissioned and funded by Midlands Net Zero Hub on behalf of Midlands Nuclear - a collaborative initiative established to ensure that the Midlands is well positioned to potentially benefit from future nuclear developments. The Midlands Net Zero Hub is in turn funded by the UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The study was delivered by nuclear strategic and technical consultancy and project development company Equilibrion, with input from Portinscale Consulting and Ennuvo.

The study aimed to assess where and how nuclear energy could supply low-carbon electricity, hydrogen, and sustainable fuels for industry, transport, and homes.

From the 84 sites reviewed, the study identified 21 shortlisted sites across the Midlands - 9 brownfield and 12 greenfield - with an estimated generating capacity exceeding 20 GWe, pending comprehensive impact assessment and appropriate regulatory review and approvals. Each site was assessed based on the nationally recognised Power Plant Siting Study, which considers criteria based on technical, environmental, and socioeconomic factors.

Following a detailed comparative appraisal, two sites were selected as the Midlands' most strategic nuclear deployment opportunities. These sites underwent detailed appraisal and offer significant advantages: brownfield status, proximity to existing and future industrial demand hubs, potential for transmission grid access, reliable cooling water sources, and potential for near-term readiness to support advanced nuclear development programmes. The study says their identification "reflects not only technical suitability, but also strategic location and alignment with regional economic development priorities". In addition to siting appraisal, the study examines the wider economic and supply chain benefits associated with new nuclear deployment.

According to Midlands Nuclear, the siting study demonstrates that sites in the Midlands could pass the siting criteria including on population density, proximity to military activities and access to essential cooling water.

It says nuclear applications could support the region by delivering consistent, reliable power for data centres, hydrogen for transport and industrial use, and heat for manufacturing and networks. Nuclear, it says, is an excellent match for these and other needs as it can produce energy on-demand and overcomes many of the challenges faced by the energy system as deployment of variable renewables increases.

The Midlands is already home to nuclear facilities, including the Rolls-Royce Submarines nuclear licensed operations at its site at Raynesway, Derby, and possesses a workforce already involved in delivering and supporting nuclear projects.

Midlands Nuclear brings together 25 partners with regional strengths in advanced manufacturing, engineering, and nuclear innovation, along with specialists in research and development, to support the introduction of both large-scale and small modular reactor technologies.

Lord Ravensdale, Chair of Midlands Nuclear said: "This study represents a pivotal step toward future expansion of clean, secure energy capacity in the Midlands through consideration of siting options for nuclear power in the region. Coming alongside a more flexible siting policy for new nuclear from the government, it is an exciting opportunity for the region to capitalise on the revival of nuclear energy across the UK."

The current National Policy Statement for Nuclear, EN-6, identifies eight sites in England and Wales that the government considers potentially suitable for building new nuclear power plants up to 2025. The proposed new EN-7 document updates the government's position and enables developers to identify and propose nuclear new build in locations additional to the eight, subject to ultimate approval by the Secretary of State.

"The Midlands Nuclear Siting Study enables regional authorities, Midlands Nuclear, and other stakeholders to proactively engage with UK Government, developers and investors, presenting credible, evidence-based nuclear investment opportunities at a critical time for national energy transition planning," the study says.

Korean accident-resistant fuel begins in-reactor testing

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

A demonstration accident-resistant nuclear fuel assembly has been loaded into the core of unit 6 of the Hanul nuclear power plant, marking the first time in Korea that such a fuel assembly has been loaded into a reactor, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power announced.

(Image: KHNP)

A ceremony was held on 1 July to commemorate the loading of the accident-resistant nuclear fuel demonstration assembly, which comprises 236 fuel rods. It was attended by KHNP CEO Hwang Joo-ho and executives from related organisations. 

Accident-tolerant fuel is a term used to describe new technologies that enhance the tolerance of light-water reactor fuel under severe accident conditions as well as offering improvements to reactor performance and economics. Such fuels may incorporate the use of new materials and designs for cladding and fuel pellets.

KHNP, together with Kepco Nuclear Fuel (KNF), began developing accident-resistant nuclear fuel in 2017 as part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's core nuclear technology project, and successfully completed the technology development in 2022. After that, it began combustion testing of a demonstration fuel rod in unit 2 of the Saeul plant in May 2024, and since last month, it has loaded four demonstration assemblies into unit 6 of the Hanul plant and is currently conducting combustion tests.

The developed accident-resistant nuclear fuel - referred to as HIPER16 (for High Performance with Efficiency and Reliability) - consists of a chromium-coated cladding and enhanced-performance fuel pellets. KNF said the fuel "provides superior safety compared to existing nuclear fuel, thereby securing the safety margin of nuclear power plants".

KNF obtained a licence in February this year from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission to commercially load a HIPER16 fuel assembly into Hanul units 5 and 6.

KHNP said it plans to conduct combustion tests until 2029 and complete commercialisation of the fuel by obtaining post-survey tests and permits.

"The accident-resistant nuclear fuel developed with our own domestic technology will become the foundation for improving the safety of nuclear power plants and exporting nuclear power plants," Hwang Joo-ho said. "We will continue to work on developing technologies that can improve the safety of nuclear power plants."

GLE submits full application for laser enrichment facility licence

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

Global Laser Enrichment has submitted its Safety Analysis Report for the planned Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This follows its submission in December 2024 of the Environmental Report, now completing GLE's full licence application for NRC review.

(Image: GLE)

GLE is seeking a licence for the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) to re-enrich depleted uranium tails from legacy Department of Energy (DOE) gaseous diffusion plant operations to provide a new source of domestic uranium, conversion, and enrichment production.

In August last year, the NRC approved GLE's request to separate the submittal of the Environmental Report (ER) and the Safety Analysis Report request. GLE said the early submission of the ER was expected to "facilitate a more efficient and timely licensing review process".

GLE submitted the ER to the NRC in late December. The ER highlights the significant benefits of the project, including accelerating environmental cleanup efforts at the former Paducah gaseous diffusion plant through depleted uranium tails re-enrichment under a 2016 agreement between GLE and the Department of Energy, supporting carbon emissions reduction by providing a new domestic source of uranium, conversion, and enriched uranium to existing and new nuclear reactors, job creation for West Kentucky, and energy security.

GLE has now submitted the Safety Analysis Report, which provides a comprehensive evaluation of the facility's safety measures, operational protocols, and risk mitigation strategies, ensuring compliance with the NRC's stringent regulatory standards for nuclear safety and security.

"This achievement reflects the significant commitment, dedication, and ingenuity of our remarkably talented team, who worked to prepare and deliver a high-quality application in a very short timeframe, six months ahead of schedule," said GLE CEO Stephen Long. "GLE's unique capabilities position the PLEF as a potential single-site solution for US-based uranium, conversion, and enrichment production."

GLE Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Manager Timothy Knowles added: "We appreciate the extensive pre-application engagement with NRC staff, which helped inform our submission. We remain committed to working closely with the NRC to ensure a thorough, efficient, and expeditious review."

The PLEF licensing effort builds upon GLE's 2012 NRC-approved licence for a commercial-scale laser enrichment facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, which did not proceed due to poor market conditions at the time.

GLE said it anticipates an accelerated licensing timeline for the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility given the NRC's prior approval and GLE's well-characterised site. In November 2024, GLE acquired 665 acres (2.7 square kilometres) adjacent to the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant for construction of the planned PLEF.

The company said it remains on track to begin re-enriching the DOE's Paducah inventory of depleted uranium tails no later than 2030.

GLE, a joint venture of Australian company Silex Systems (51%) and Cameco Corporation (49%), is the exclusive global licensee of the SILEX laser-based uranium enrichment technology, which would be deployed commercially at Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility. The project is underpinned by a long-term agreement signed in 2016 for the sale to GLE of some 200,000 tonnes from the US Department of Energy's inventory depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) for re-enrichment to equivalent natural grade uranium hexafluoride. The DOE has a large inventory of the material - also known as tails - from the former operations of its first-generation gaseous diffusion enrichment plants.

"GLE's submittal of its Safety Analysis Report represents a major milestone in the commercialisation of the SILEX technology, which will culminate in the establishment of the planned PLEF," said Silex Systems CEO and Managing Director Michael Goldsworthy. "We commend the GLE team for their excellent efforts in the submission of the full licence application ahead of the original schedule, and look forward to an expeditious review by the NRC."