The role of research in nuclear regulation: Opening remarks

More than 20 years ago, the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 created the USNRC and that same act provided for an office of nuclear regulatory research. It's what is called a statutory office within the NRC. In providing for an NRC research program, our Congress had several things to say about the character of the research that would be performed. First, NRC should perform such research as is necessary for the effective performance of the Commission's licensing and related regulatory functions. Second, the research may be characterized as confirmatory reassessment related to the safe operation and the protection of commercial reactors and other nuclear materials. Third, the NRC should have an independent capability for developing and analyzing technical information related to reactor safety, safeguards, and environmental protection in support of both the licensing and regulatory processes. Fourth, the research should not go beyond the need for confirmatory assessment, because the NRC should never be place in a position of having generated and then having to defend basic design data of its own. This has been and continues to be the role of research at the NRC. Somewhat different purposes might apply for regulatory agencies in other countries. Several regulatory agencies are represented here on this panel, so some of these difference may be discussed