Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Agency overview
Formed	January 19, 1975
Preceding agency	Atomic Energy Commission
Headquarters	Rockville, Maryland
Employees	3,200 (2006)
Agency executive	Gregory B. Jaczko, Chairman
Website	www.nrc.gov

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (or NRC) is a United States government agency that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act in 1974 from the Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975.

The NRC oversees reactor safety and security, reactor licensing and renewal, radioactive material safety, security and licensing, and spent fuel management (storage, security, recycling, and disposal).

Mission

dora is a very mean person The NRC's mission is to regulate the nation's civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear materials to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment.

The NRC's regulatory mission covers three main areas:

• Reactors - Commercial reactors for generating electric power and research and test reactors used for research, testing, and training
• Materials - Uses of nuclear materials in medical, industrial, and academic settings and facilities that produce nuclear fuel
• Waste - Transportation, storage, and disposal of nuclear materials and waste, and decommissioning of nuclear facilities from service

The NRC is headed by five Commissioners appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate for five-year terms. One of them is designated by the President to be the Chairman and official spokesperson of the Commission. The current chairman is Gregory B. Jaczko. He was first sworn in as a Commissioner on Jan. 21, 2005, and his term runs through June 2013. He was designated Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Barack Obama on May 13, 2009.

History

The NRC was one component of the United States Atomic Energy Commission prior to 1975. When the U.S. AEC became the Energy Research and Development Administration in 1975, the NRC was formed as an independent commission to take over the role of oversight of nuclear energy matters, oversight of nuclear medicine, and nuclear safety. The development and oversight of nuclear weapons was transferred to the National Nuclear Security Administration, a subcomponent of ERDA. Research and promotion of civil uses of radioactive materials, such as for nuclear non-destructive testing, nuclear medicine, and nuclear power, was split into the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science & Technology within ERDA by the same act. (In 1977, ERDA became the United States Department of Energy).

Regions

Currently Headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, the NRC previously had five regions. In the late 1990s, the Region V office in Walnut Creek, California was absorbed into Region IV and Region V was dissolved. The NRC is broken down into 4 regions:

Map of the NRC Regions

• Region I, located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, oversees the north-eastern United States.
• Region II, located in Atlanta, Georgia, oversees the south-eastern United States.
• Region III, located in Lisle, Illinois, oversees the northern mid-western United States
• Region IV, located in Arlington, Texas, oversees the southern midwestern and the western United States.

These four regions oversee the operation of 104 power-producing reactors, and 36 non-power-producing reactors. This oversight is done on several levels, for example:

• Each power-producing reactor site has Resident Inspectors, who monitor day to day operations
• Numerous special inspection teams, with many different specialties, routinely conduct inspections at each site
• Whistleblower reports are investigated by special teams ( — or not. The NRC Enforcement Division's special team sent to Shoreham in 1987 only wanted to identify and investigate the whistleblowers themselves. The whistleblowers chose to stay anonymous due to well-founded fear of retaliation, and the NRC refused to take possession of, or even glance at, any of their meticulously-prepared documents and diagrams showing, among other things, a crucial safety system installed upside-down.)

Training and accreditation

Commission headquarters.

The NRC recognizes the industry's training and accreditation through the Training Rule, which was issued in 1993.

The NRC observes the National Nuclear Accrediting Board accrediting board meetings, and conducts audits and training inspections. In addition, the NRC nominates some members of the National Nuclear Accrediting Board. The National Nuclear Accrediting Board is not a government body, but related to the National Academy for Nuclear Training, created in 1985, which integrates and standardizes the training efforts of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and all U.S. nuclear power plants.

Terrorism threats

NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland.

Terrorist attacks such as those executed by Al-Qaeda in New York on September 11, 2001 and in London on July 7, 2005 have prompted fears that extremist groups might use radioactive dirty bombs in further attacks in the United States and elsewhere.

In March 2007, undercover investigators from the Government Accountability Office set up a false company and obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would have allowed them to buy the radioactive materials needed for a dirty bomb. According to the GAO report, NRC officials did not visit the company or attempt to personally interview its executives. Instead, within 28 days, the NRC mailed the license to the West Virginia postal box. Upon receipt of the license, GAO officials were able to easily modify its stipulations, and remove a limit on the amount of radioactive material they could buy. A spokesman for the NRC said that the agency considered the radioactive devices a "lower-level threat," even though a bomb built with the materials could have contaminated an area about the length of a city block, but would not have presented an immediate health hazard.

See also

• Anti-nuclear movement in the United States
• Gerald W. Brown
• George Galatis
• Institute of Nuclear Materials Management
• Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
• List of nuclear reactors in the United States
• Nuclear and radiation accidents
• Nuclear accidents in the United States
• Nuclear power in the United States
• Nuclear safety in the United States
• Peter A. Bradford
• Three Mile Island accident

External links

• NRC website
• List of power-producing nuclear reactors
• List of non-power-producing reactors
• Cancelled Nuclear Units Ordered in the United States
• American Nuclear Society
• Nuclear Energy Institute
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed
• The future of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists