#10 Regulations

The United States government is highly involved in nuclear energy. They have funded everything from research and development of new technology to the building of these nuclear power plants. Ever since the Manhattan Project in 1945 the United States government has been furthering research into how to harness the massive output of energy from the atom. There is a commission set up called the Nuclear Regulatory Commision who is an independent government agency that regulates all parts of the nuclear industry, from the reactors to transportation and storage of fuel. One major responsibility of this commission is to manage the licensing of current and proposed nuclear plants. This is a long process because these plants have to be very well engineered and cannot have any structural issues as if there are there could be catastrophic results. Regulations such as the requiring of a license is extremely important for anything revolving around nuclear reactions, because the potential fallout of a nuclear explosion not being contained properly could mean the end of an entire community and its surrounding areas. Since we know what is at risk having been the only country to drop an atomic bomb in warfare we know that we must do the most to protect our people and give rigorous tests before the facilities are allowed to be built or have nuclear fuel reacting inside of them. The NRC also has regulatory authority over uranium mines and mills in some states. These are also important to manage because improper harvesting could make the uranium impossible to use or even worse completely unstable turning it into essentially a ticking time bomb just waiting for a jolt to cause an explosion. (WC:280)Source:US Nuclear Power Policy