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Rich Correia Director, Division of Risk Analysis Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research   The NRC’s review of new reactor licenses, renewal of existing licenses or major changes to our safety regulations involves an analysis of the impacts of potential accidents. Long before the 2011 accident at Fukushima...

Joey Ledford Public Affairs Officer, Region II   The NRC is piloting a new oversight process for nuclear units under construction that is reminiscent of the old riddle, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Obviously, the Reactor Oversight Process, or ROP, has been in effect for years. The NRC staff...

Neil Sheehan Public Affairs Officer Region I The NRC staff has issued the findings of the Special Inspection it conducted at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to review events related to “Superstorm” Sandy. The inspection was launched on Nov. 13. Our three-member team’s primary focus was the timing...

A panel of judges on the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has completed its hearing on challenges to an application to build a new nuclear power plant at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland. Board hearings are one part of the NRC’s process for determining whether a new reactor can be approved. The judges...

Counterfeit Gucci bags are bad news. So are fraudulent money-making schemes and substandard materials used in your home repair. But counterfeit, fraudulent and suspect parts and equipment are particularly bad news from the viewpoint of the NRC’s Office of Investigations when it comes to keeping people...

Many people familiar with the nuclear industry know the NRC inspects the facilities of the licensees it regulates. But what may be less well known is that the agency also inspects companies that provide safety-related components and services for these licensees. The vendor inspection program at the NRC...

Among the many interesting and challenging jobs at the NRC is that of an Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) engineer. I&C systems are important because they monitor all aspects of the plant, make adjustments to the plant’s protection and control systems as needed, and help respond to plant events...

When the NRC says we consider new and significant information, we mean it. The latest example came as we were finalizing our review of a design for a new nuclear plant called the Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR). General Electric-Hitachi asked the NRC to review this new design in August...

The NRC’s Technical Training Center (TTC) located in Chattanooga, Tenn., has completed a major milestone in a project to develop new reactor simulation with the installation and testing of two “generic digital platforms.” A generic digital platform is a fancy way of saying that we have computerized displays...

The NRC’s five Commissioners have approved a rule that certifies the amended AP1000 reactor design for use in the Unites States. The Commissioners took this final step in the certification process after four years of review by the NRC’s technical staff. The staff carefully examined information from the...

Thanks to the NRC’s agreement with China’s nuclear agency to exchange construction knowledge, I traveled there last summer to observe ongoing work on two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear units. In July, I arrived in Shanghai, a sprawling, modern city full of skyscrapers and familiar places like Starbucks...

The NRC is currently reviewing several applications from the nuclear industry to build more than 20 new nuclear reactors. These new plants, so called Generation III+ reactors, include designs with an alphabet of acronyms. They include the Advanced Passive or AP-1000, the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recently reached two milestones related to the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design, but we’re still months away from any final decisions on these matters. The first milestone deals with the NRC’s review of the design itself, to see if it can be approved, or certified...

The Office of New Reactors (NRO) evaluates designs for new reactors and license applications to make sure they meet the necessary laws and regulations. NRO staffers complete these reviews after we’ve gathered the information we need to conclude the design or proposed reactor can protect public health...