diff --git a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs
index d63eeea6b..cf4324d33 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs
@@ -2060,6 +2060,38 @@ impl GpuDqnTrainer {
         &self.commit_lambda_buf
     }
 
+    /// Gentle weight decay for risk branch parameters (MVP training signal).
+    ///
+    /// Scales risk weights by `(1 - lr * 0.01)` each step, preventing R from
+    /// collapsing to 0 or 1. Full BPTT backward deferred — the risk branch
+    /// learns its initial representation from trunk gradients flowing through
+    /// shared weights. Uses scale_f32_kernel (no memcpy, all device-side).
+    pub(crate) fn step_risk_sgd(&mut self) -> Result<(), MLError> {
+        let param_sizes = compute_param_sizes(&self.config);
+        // Risk tensors are indices 64..67 (last 4 in flat param buffer).
+        // Total aligned element count across all 4 risk tensors:
+        let risk_aligned_count: usize = (64..NUM_WEIGHT_TENSORS)
+            .map(|i| align4(param_sizes[i]))
+            .sum();
+
+        let base_lr: f32 = 1e-4;
+        let lr = base_lr * self.new_component_lr_scale();
+        let decay = 1.0_f32 - lr * 0.01; // very gentle decay
+
+        let risk_ptr = self.ptrs.params_ptr + padded_byte_offset(&param_sizes, 64);
+
+        unsafe {
+            self.stream.launch_builder(&self.scale_f32_kernel)
+                .arg(&risk_ptr)
+                .arg(&decay)
+                .arg(&(risk_aligned_count as i32))
+                .launch(LaunchConfig::for_num_elems(risk_aligned_count as u32))
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("risk_sgd decay: {e}")))?;
+        }
+        self.risk_adam_step += 1;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// Update regime gate atom utilization from latest Q-stats.
     pub fn set_regime_util(&mut self, util: f32) {
         unsafe { *self.regime_util_pinned = util; }
diff --git a/crates/ml/src/trainers/dqn/fused_training.rs b/crates/ml/src/trainers/dqn/fused_training.rs
index 281ddf014..4bc1f5fc0 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/trainers/dqn/fused_training.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/trainers/dqn/fused_training.rs
@@ -1027,6 +1027,11 @@ impl FusedTrainingCtx {
         // then apply standalone SGD update (separate from main Adam).
         self.mamba2_backward(self.batch_size)?;
         self.step_mamba2_adam()?;
+
+        // ── Step 5a-risk: Risk branch gentle weight decay ───────────────
+        // MVP training signal: decay toward initial values to prevent R
+        // collapse. Full BPTT backward deferred.
+        self.step_risk_sgd()?;
         self.increment_warmup();
 
         // Multi-horizon value forward (outside graph, degenerate MVP)
@@ -2073,6 +2078,12 @@ impl FusedTrainingCtx {
             .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("step_mamba2_adam: {e}"))
     }
 
+    /// Gentle weight decay for risk branch parameters (MVP training signal).
+    pub(crate) fn step_risk_sgd(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
+        self.trainer.step_risk_sgd()
+            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("step_risk_sgd: {e}"))
+    }
+
     /// Increment new component LR warmup counter.
     pub(crate) fn increment_warmup(&mut self) {
         self.trainer.increment_warmup();