Nuclear Regulatory Commission facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Agency overview
Formed	January 19, 1975; 50 years ago (1975-01-19)
Preceding agency	Atomic Energy Commission
Headquarters	North Bethesda, Maryland
Employees	2,868 (2021)
Annual budget	$879 million (2021)
Agency executive	Christopher T. Hanson, Chairman

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operations on January 19, 1975, as one of two successor agencies to the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Its functions include overseeing reactor safety and security, administering reactor licensing and renewal, licensing radioactive materials, radionuclide safety, and managing the storage, security, recycling, and disposal of spent fuel.

History

The commission meets in 2021

Prior to 1975 the Atomic Energy Commission was in charge of matters regarding radionuclides. The AEC was dissolved, because it was perceived as unduly favoring the industry it was charged with regulating. The NRC was formed as an independent commission to oversee nuclear energy matters, oversight of nuclear medicine, and nuclear safety and security.

The U.S. AEC became the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in 1975, responsible for development and oversight of nuclear weapons. 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 (DOE). In 2000, the National Nuclear Security Administration was created as a subcomponent of DOE, responsible for nuclear weapons.

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the NRC developed a guidance strategy known as "Diverse and Flexible Coping Strategies (FLEX)" which requires licensee nuclear power plants to account for beyond-design-basis external events (seismic, flooding, high-winds, etc.) that are most impactful to reactor safety through loss of power and loss of ultimate heat sink. FLEX Strategies have been implemented at all operating nuclear power plants in the United States.

The origins and development of NRC regulatory processes and policies are explained in five volumes of history published by the University of California Press. These are:

• Controlling the Atom: The Beginnings of Nuclear Regulation 1946–1962 (1984).
• Containing the Atom: Nuclear Regulation in a Changing Environment, 1963–1971 (1992).
• Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century (2000)
• Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective (2004)
• The Road to Yucca Mountain: The Development of Radioactive Waste Policy in the United States (2009).

The NRC has produced a booklet, A Short History of Nuclear Regulation 1946–2009, which outlines key issues in NRC history. Thomas Wellock, a former academic, is the NRC historian. Before joining the NRC, Wellock wrote Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958–1978.

Mission and commissioners

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 Christopher T. Hanson. President Biden designated Hanson as chairman of the NRC effective January 20, 2021.

List of chairmen

No.	Name (chair)	Photo	Term of office		Appointed by
1	Bill Anders		January 19, 1975	April 20, 1976	Gerald Ford
2	Marcus A. Rowden		January 19, 1975	January 15, 1977
3	Joseph M. Hendrie		March 3, 1977	December 7, 1979	Jimmy Carter
4	John F. Ahearne		December 7, 1979	March 2, 1981
5	Nunzio J. Palladino		July 1, 1981	June 30, 1986	Ronald Reagan
6	Lando W. Zech Jr.		July 1, 1986	June 3, 1989
7	Kenneth Monroe Carr		July 1, 1989	June 30, 1991	George H.W Bush
8	Ivan Selin		July 1, 1991	June 30, 1995
9	Shirley Ann Jackson		July 1, 1995	June 30, 1999	Bill Clinton
10	Richard Meserve		October 29, 1999	March 31, 2003
11	Nils J. Diaz		April 1, 2003	June 30, 2006	George W. Bush
12	Dale E. Klein		July 1, 2006	May 13, 2009
13	Gregory Jaczko		May 13, 2009	July 9, 2012	Barack Obama
14	Allison Macfarlane		July 9, 2012	December 31, 2014
15	Stephen G. Burns		January 1, 2015	January 23, 2017
16	Kristine Svinicki		January 23, 2017	January 20, 2021	Donald Trump
17	Christopher T. Hanson		January 20, 2021	Incumbent	Joe Biden

List of commissioners

Portrait	Commissioner	Took office	Left office
	Marcus A. Rowden	January 19, 1975	April 20, 1977
	Edward A. Mason	January 19, 1975	January 15, 1977
	Victor Gilinsky	January 19, 1975	June 30, 1984
	Richard T. Kennedy	January 19, 1975	June 30, 1980
	Joseph Hendrie	August 9, 1977	June 30, 1981
	Peter A. Bradford	August 15, 1977	March 12, 1982
	John F. Ahearne	July 31, 1978	June 30, 1983
	Nunzio J. Palladiono	July 1, 1981	June 30, 1986
	Thomas M. Roberts	August 3, 1981	June 30, 1990
	James K. Asselstine	May 17, 1982	June 30, 1987
	Frederick M. Bernthal	August 4, 1983	June 30, 1988
	Lando W. Zech Jr.	July 3, 1984	June 30, 1989
	Kenneth Monroe Carr	August 14, 1986	June 30, 1991
	Kenneth C. Rogers	August 7, 1987	June 30, 1997
	James R. Curtiss	October 20, 1988	June 30, 1993
	Forrest J. Remick	December 1, 1989	June 30, 1994
	Ivan Selin	July 1, 1991	June 30, 1995
	E. Gail de Planque	December 16, 1991	June 30, 1995
	Shirley Ann Jackson	May 2, 1995	June 30, 1999
	Greta J. Dicus	February 15, 1996	June 30, 2003
	Nils J. Diaz	August 23, 1996	June 30, 2006
	Edward McGaffigan Jr.	August 28, 1996	September 2, 2007
	Jeffrey S. Merrifield	October 23, 1998	June 30, 2007
	Richard Meserve	October 29, 1999	March 31, 2003
	Gregory Jaczko	January 21, 2005	July 9, 2012
	Peter B. Lyons	January 25, 2005	June 30, 2009
	Dale E. Klein	July 1, 2006	March 29, 2010
	Kristine Svinicki	March 28, 2008	January 20, 2021
	George Apostolakis	March 29, 2010	June 30, 2014
	William D. Magwood IV	March 29, 2010	August 31, 2014
	William C. Ostendorff	March 29, 2010	June 30, 2016
	Allison Macfarlane	July 9, 2012	December 31, 2014
	Jeff Baran	October 14, 2014	June 30, 2023
	Stephen G. Burns	November 4, 2014	April 30, 2019
	Annie Caputo	May 29, 2018	June 30, 2021
	David A. Wright	May 30, 2018	Present
	Christopher T. Hanson	June 8, 2020	Present
	Annie Caputo	August 9, 2022	Present
	Bradley Crowell	August 26, 2022	Present

Current commissioners

Organization

NRC Organizational Chart in February 2019

The three building that comprise NRC's North Bethesda campus, with North Bethesda station in the right bottom corner

The NRC consists of the commission on the one hand and offices of the executive director for Operations on the other. The commission is divided into two committees (Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes) and one Board, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, as well as eight commission staff offices (Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication, Office of Congressional Affairs, Office of the General Counsel, Office of International Programs, Office of Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of the Executive Director for Operations).

Christopher T. Hanson is the chairman of the NRC. There are 14 Executive Director for Operations offices: Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, Office of Enforcement, which investigates reports by nuclear power whistleblowers, specifically the Allegations Program, Office of Investigations, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, Region I, Region II, Region III, Region IV, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Administration, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, and Office of Small Business and Civil Rights.

Of these operations offices, NRC's major program components are the first two offices mentioned above.

NRC's proposed FY 2015 budget is $1,059.5 million, with 3,895.9 full-time equivalents (FTE), 90 percent of which is recovered by fees. This is an increase of $3.6 million, including 65.1 FTE, compared to FY 2014.

NRC headquarters offices are located in unincorporated North Bethesda, Maryland (although the mailing address for two of the three main buildings in the complex list the city as Rockville, MD), and there are four regional offices.

Regions

Map of the NRC regions

The NRC territory is broken down into four geographical regions; until the late 1990s, there was a Region V office in Walnut Creek, California which was absorbed into Region IV, and Region V was dissolved.

• Region I, located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, oversees the northeastern states.
• Region II, located in Atlanta, Georgia, oversees most of the southeastern states.
• Region III, located in Lisle, Illinois, oversees the Midwest.
• Region IV, located in Arlington, Texas, oversees the western and south central states.

In these four regions NRC oversees the operation of US nuclear reactors, namely 94 power-producing reactors, and 31 non-power-producing, or research and test reactors. 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.

Recordkeeping system

NRC has a library, which also contains online document collections. In 1984 it started an electronic repository called ADAMS, the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System. for its public inspection reports, correspondence, and other technical documents written by NRC staff, contractors, and licensees. It has been upgraded in October 2010 and is now webbased. Of documents from 1980 to 1999 only some have abstracts and/or full text, most are citations. Documents from before 1980 are available in paper or microfiche formats. Copies of these older documents or classified documents can be applied for with a FOIA request.

Training and accreditation

Commission headquarters

NRC conducts audits and training inspections, observes the National Nuclear Accrediting Board meetings, and nominates some members.

The 1980 Kemeny Commission's report after the Three Mile Island accident recommended that the nuclear energy industry "set and police its own standards of excellence". The nuclear industry founded the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) within 9 months to establish personnel training and qualification. The industry through INPO created the 'National Academy for Nuclear Training Program' either as early as 1980 or in September 1985 per the International Atomic Energy Agency. INPO refers to NANT as "our National Academy for Nuclear Training" on its website. NANT integrates and standardizes the training programs of INPO and US nuclear energy companies, offers training scholarships and interacts with the 'National Nuclear Accrediting Board'. This Board is closely related to the National Academy for Nuclear Training, not a government body, and referred to as independent by INPO, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and nuclear utilities. but not by the NRC, all of whom are represented on the board.

The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act directed NRC in Section 306 to issue regulations or "other appropriate regulatory guidance" on training of nuclear plant personnel. Since the nuclear industry already had developed training and accreditation, NRC issued a policy statement in 1985, endorsing the INPO program. NRC has a memorandum of agreement with INPO and "monitors INPO activities by observing accreditation team visits and the monthly NNAB meetings".

In 1993, NRC endorsed the industry's approach to training that had been used for nearly a decade through its 'Training Rule'. In February 1994, NRC passed the 'Operator Requalification Rule' 59 FR 5938, Feb. 9, 1994, allowing each nuclear power plant company to conduct the operator licensing renewal examination every six years, eliminating the requirement of NRC-administered written requalification examination.

In 1999, NRC issued a final rule on operator initial licensing examination, that allows companies to prepare, proctor, and grade their own operator initial licensing examinations. Facilities can "upon written request" continue to have the examinations prepared and administered by NRC staff, but if a company volunteers to prepare the examination, NRC continues to approve and administer it.

Since 2000 meetings between NRC and applicants or licensees have been open to the public.

Prospective nuclear units

Between 2007 and 2009, 13 companies applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction and operating licenses to build 25 new nuclear power reactors in the United States. However, the case for widespread nuclear plant construction was eroded due to abundant natural gas supplies. Many license applications for proposed new reactors were suspended or cancelled. These will not be the cheapest energy options available, therefore not an attractive investment. In 2013, four reactors were permanently closed: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin. Vermont Yankee, in Vernon, was shut down on December 29, 2014. New York state eventually closed Indian Point Energy Center, in Buchanan, 30 miles from New York City, on April 30, 2021.

In 2019 the NRC approved a second 20-year license extension for Turkey Point units 3 and 4, the first time NRC had extended licenses to 80 years total lifetime. Similar extensions for about 20 reactors are planned or intended, with more expected in the future. This will reduce demand for replacement new builds.

See also

In Spanish: Comisión Reguladora Nuclear de Estados Unidos para niños