Oversight The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Research Program

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. The NRC has promulgated regulations requiring that its licensees implement an access authorization program (AAP) to provide high assurance that individuals who are granted unescorted access and those individuals who maintain unescorted access to nuclear power plants are trustworthy and reliable and do not constitute an unreasonable risk to public health and safety, including the potential to commit radiological sabotage. NRC inspects licensee AAP to verify that licensees are implementing programs in accordance with NRC regulations and the facilities¿ security plans. This audit determined the effectiveness of NRC¿s oversight of nuclear power plant AAP. Charts and tables.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relies on its staffs professional judgement in implementing its processes for overseeing the safety of U.S. commercial nuclear power reactors. This book examines how NRC implements its processes for overseeing the safety of commercial nuclear power reactors; the extent to which NRC consistently identifies and resolves findings through these processes; and NRCs methods for developing lessons learned to improve its oversight and challenges, if any, NRC faces in doing so.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relies on its staff's professional judgment in implementing its processes for overseeing the safety of U.S. commercial nuclear power reactors. In implementing this oversight, NRC allocates specific roles and responsibilities to resident inspectors assigned to each plant, regional officials at one of four regional offices responsible for most oversight activities, headquarters officials, and the nuclear power industry. This book examines how NRC implements its processes for overseeing the safety of commercial nuclear power reactors; the extent to which NRC consistently identifies and resolves findings through these processes; and NRC's methods for developing lessons learned to improve its oversight and challenges, if any, NRC faces in doing so. The authors also discuss the inspector general's assessment of the most serious management and performance challenges facing the NRC.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for overseeing the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants to ensure they are operated safely. The safety of these plants has always been important, since an accident could release harmful radioactive material. NRC's oversight has become even more critical as the potential resurgence of nuclear power is considered. NRC implemented a new Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) in 2000 to address weaknesses in its oversight of nuclear plant safety. In this report, GAO reviewed (1) how NRC oversees nuclear power plants, (2) the results of the ROP over the past several years, and (3) the status of NRC's efforts to improve the ROP. To complete this work, GAO analyzed programwide information, inspection results covering 5 years of ROP operations, and detailed findings from a nonprobability sample of 11 plants.