Brief History of Nuclear Regulation

2. Brief History of Nuclear Regulation • 1946 Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) by Congress. Strict control of nuclear materials used or produced in a reactor or used for weapons. Five Commissioners, non-partisan, appointed by the President. Joint Senate- House oversight. • 1953 Atoms for Peace announced by President Eisenhower • 1954 Atomic Energy Act. Opened door to commercial nuclear power. AEC given responsibility for promoting commercial uses and their regulation to protect public health & safety.

3. Brief History II • Dual responsibilities for promotion and safety difficult in a single agency. 1974 Energy Reorganization Act, abolished the AEC, replaced by Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Energy Research and Development Agency with former responsibilities of AEC

4. Brief History III • NRC kept Commission structure with an Executive Director for Operations for administrative management of the staff and three Congressionally mandated offices. • Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation • Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards • Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research

5. Brief History IV • In early days NRC budgets and staffing were much larger than today (roughly twice) carried over from the very active licensing of new power plants under the AEC in the 1960s. • Present budget $513M with 2,789 TFEs • Four Regional Offices. I Philadelphia, PA, II Atlanta, GA, III Chicago, Ill, IV Arlington. TX

6. Brief History IV • In early days NRC budgets and staffing were much larger than today (roughly twice) carried over from the very active licensing of new power plants under the AEC in the 1960s. • Present budget $513M with 2,789 TFEs • Four Regional Offices. I Philadelphia, PA, II Atlanta, GA, III Chicago, Ill, IV Arlington. TX

7. Economics& Safety • Deregulation of the electricity suppliers has had dramatic effects on the ownership and operations of NPPs Strict control of costs by operators and owners has raised new safety issues related to management decision making and forced NRC to consider effect of licensee management performance on safety, and conversely possible adverse to safety effects of regulatory requirements.

8. Reactor Safety Foundations • NRC is charged with the responsibility of establishing regulations (administrative laws) and the means to enforce compliance with them that result in ensuring an adequate protection level of safety is afforded the public and the environment. • Adequate Protection standard not a precisely defined requirement. Taken to mean within the bounds of accepted engineering practice as identified by well recognized experts and professional societies.

9. Meeting the Adequate Protection Standard • Two keystones Defense in Depth and Safety Margins (related but sometimes different) • Until recently these were based on deterministic engineering analyses together with engineering judgment. • Designs had to provide redundancy and diversity in key safety systems. • Emphasis was initially on design, quality of construction and hardware performance. Less on human factors.