Regulation Flashcards
Who are the top regulators in the US, UK and Canada?
Chairman Kristine L. Svinicki. The Honorable Kristine Svinicki was designated Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Donald J. Trump on January 23, 2017. She is currently serving her third term, ending June 30, 2022.
Adriènne Kelbie serves as Chief Executive of the Office for Nuclear Regulation from 18 January 2016. She comes to ONR from the Disclosure and Barring Service which safeguards vulnerable people and has undergone significant change since its formation in 2012.
Rumina Velshi was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a five-year term beginning August 22, 2018. Ms. Velshi has had a long association with the CNSC.
What is the authorizing legislation for the U.S. nuclear energy industry?
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act: “An Act For the development and control of atomic energy”) determined how the United States would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. It established the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The United States Atomic Energy Commission, commonly known as the AEC, the agency established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology, transferring the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands, effective on January 1, 1947.
The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 transferred the regulatory functions of the AEC to the new Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which began operations on January 19, 1975. Promotional functions went to the Energy Research and Development Administration which was later incorporated into the United States Department of Energy.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. §§ 2011-2021, 2022-2286i, 2296a-2297h-13) is a United States federal law that is, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “the fundamental U.S. law on both the civilian and the military uses of nuclear materials.”
Later the Price Anderson Act was added, limiting private sector liability.
Who signed the 1946 Atomic Energy Act?
President Harry S. Truman signed the initial Atomic Energy Act in 1946.
What is the controlling regulation in Canada for nuclear energy?
The Nuclear Safety and Control Act of Canada replaced the Atomic Energy Control Act of 1946 with new, more effective and explicit legislation to regulate the activities of the Canadian nuclear industry. The NSCA came into force on May 31, 2000 when it replaced the Atomic Energy Control Act. It established the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and set out the CNSC’s mandate, responsibilities and powers. This Act provided the CNSC with the authority to regulate the development, production and use of nuclear energy and the production, possession and use of nuclear substances, prescribed equipment and prescribed information in Canada.
What are the controlling regulations in the UK?
Health and safety at work act 1974
Nuclear installations Act 1965 (NIA)
Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999
Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003
Why was the Atomic Energy Commission abolished?
An increasing number of critics during the 1960s charged that the AEC’s regulations were insufficiently rigorous in several important areas, including radiation protection standards, nuclear reactor safety, plant siting, and environmental protection. By 1974, the AEC’s regulatory programs had come under such strong attack that the U.S. Congress decided to abolish the AEC. The AEC was abolished by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, which assigned its functions to two new agencies: the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which created the Department of Energy. The new agency assumed the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration (FEA), the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the Federal Power Commission (FPC), and various other Federal agencies.
Under which president and by what piece of legislation was the AEC reorganized?
On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which created the Department of Energy. The new agency assumed the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration (FEA), the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the Federal Power Commission (FPC), and various other Federal agencies.
Describe the responsibilities given by Congress to the AEC.
In creating the AEC, Congress declared that atomic energy should be employed not only in the form of nuclear weapons for the nation’s defense, but also to promote world peace, improve the public welfare and strengthen free competition in private enterprise. At the same time, the McMahon Act which created the AEC also gave it unprecedented powers of regulation over the entire field of nuclear science and technology. It furthermore explicitly prevented technology transfer between the United States and other countries, and required FBI investigations for all scientists or industrial contractors who wished to have access to any AEC controlled nuclear information. The signing was the culmination of long months of intensive debate among politicians, military planners and atomic scientists over the fate of this new energy source and the means by which it would be regulated. President Truman appointed David Lilienthal as the first Chairman of the AEC. (Wikipedia.)
How were the National Labs created?
The National Laboratory system was established from the facilities created under the Manhattan Project by the AEC. Argonne National Laboratory was one of the first laboratories authorized under this legislation as a contractor-operated facility dedicated to fulfilling the new AEC’s missions. Argonne was the first of the regional laboratories, to involve universities in the Chicago area. Others were the Clinton (CEW) labs and the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the Northeast.
After the AEA of 1946, who was put in charge of the US’s nuclear arsenal?
The AEC was in charge of developing the U.S. nuclear arsenal, taking over these responsibilities from the wartime Manhattan Project. In its first decade, the AEC oversaw the operation of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, devoted primarily to weapons development, and in 1952, the creation of new second weapons laboratory in California, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The AEC also carried out the “crash program” to develop the hydrogen bomb (H-bomb), and the AEC played a key role in the prosecution of the Rosenbergs for espionage.
The AEC also began a program of regular nuclear weapons testing, both in the faraway Pacific Proving Grounds and at the Nevada Test Site in the western United States. While the AEC also supported much basic research, the vast majority of its early budget was devoted to nuclear weapons development and production.
Describe the decision-making body for the AEC and its leadership history.
High-level scientific and technical advice for the AEC was provided by the General Advisory Committee, originally headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer. In its early years, the General Advisory Committee (GAC) made a number of controversial decisions, notably its decision against building the hydrogen bomb (H-bomb), announced in 1949. As a result, U.S. Senator Brien McMahon prompted the decision not to reappoint J. Robert Oppenheimer to the GAC when his six-year statutory term expired in 1952. Lilienthal had been one of the original members of the AEC who granted Dr. Oppenheimer nuclear security clearances in 1947.
Describe the controversy between Oppenheimer, Lilienthal and Truman.
J. Robert Oppenheimer and David Lilienthal, the subsequent AEC chairman opposed “a crash program to build the hydrogen bomb ahead of any other nation.” President Truman asked Lilienthal to leave the AEC, and he did so on February 15, 1950. With Oppenheimer and Lilienthal removed, President Truman announced his decision to develop and produce the hydrogen bomb. The first test firing of an experimental H-bomb (“Ivy Mike”) was carried out in the Central Pacific on November 1, 1952, under President Truman. Furthermore, U.S. Navy Admiral Lewis. W. Strauss was appointed in 1953 by the new President Eisenhower as the Chairman of the AEC, to carry out the military development and production of the H-bomb.[14]
Lilienthal wanted to give high priority to peaceful uses, especially with nuclear power plants. However, coal was still cheap, and the electric power industry was not interested. The first experimental nuclear power plant was started in Pennsylvania under President Eisenhower in 1954.
In 1973, how many nuclear power plants were projected?
n 1973, the AEC predicted that, by the turn of the century, one thousand reactors would be producing electricity for homes and businesses across the United States.
Explain the decline in support for nuclear power.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, the Atomic Energy Commission came under fire from opposition concerned with more fundamental ecological problems such as the pollution of air and water. Under the Nixon Administration, environmental consciousness grew exponentially and the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. Along with rising environmental awareness came a growing suspicion of the AEC and public hostility for their projects increased. In the public eye, there was a strong association between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and even though the AEC had made a push in the late 1960s, to portray their efforts as being geared toward peaceful uses of atomic energy, criticism of the agency grew. The AEC was chiefly held responsible for the health problems of people living near atmospheric test sites from the early 1960s, and there was a strong association of nuclear energy with the radioactive fallout from these tests. Around the same time, the AEC was also struggling with opposition to nuclear power plant siting as well as nuclear testing. An organized push was finally made to curb the power held by the AEC, and in 1970 the AEC was forced to prepare an Environmental impact statement (EIS) for a nuclear test in northwestern Colorado as part of the initial preparation for Project Rio Blanco. After 1973, orders for nuclear reactors declined sharply as electricity demand fell and construction costs rose. Some partially-completed nuclear power plants in the U.S. were stricken, and many planned nuclear plants were canceled.
By 1974, the AEC’s regulatory programs had come under such strong attack that Congress decided to abolish the agency. Supporters and critics of nuclear power agreed that the promotional and regulatory duties of the AEC should be assigned to different agencies.
Explain the origins of suspicions and fears about radiation.
Lasting through the mid-1970s, the AEC and the Manhattan Project carried out human radiation experiments. The government covered up most of these radiation mishaps until 1993, when President Bill Clinton ordered a change of policy. Nuclear radiation was known to be dangerous and deadly (from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945), and the experiments were designed to ascertain the detailed effect of radiation on human health. In Nashville, pregnant women were given radioactive mixtures. In Cincinnati, some 200 patients were irradiated over a period of 15 years. In Chicago, 102 people received injections of strontium and cesium solutions. In Massachusetts, 74 schoolboys were fed oatmeal that contained radioactive substances. In all these cases, the subjects did not know what was going on and did not give informed consent. With the exposure of these experiments in 1993, under the administration of President Bill Clinton, an investigation was undertaken by the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, and it uncovered much of the material included in The Plutonium Files.
