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 Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) instituted to evaluate the safety and security performance of the nation's 104 nuclear power reactors, recently passed the ten year mark. This issue brief documents UCS's review of the ROP's first decade. The NRC appointed UCS to a panel formed in 1999 under the federal advisory committee act and tasked with evaluating the ROP's pilot program. UCS has testified several times before Congress about the ROP's pros and cons. Over the past decade, UCS has continued to monitor the ROP.

NRC's reactor oversight process : hearing before the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session, October 3, 2007.

A review of the NRC's reactor oversight process : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, June 19, 2006.

The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) was created in June 1860, and is an agency of the U.S. federal government based in Washington D.C. The office prints documents produced by and for the federal government, including Congress, the Supreme Court, the Executive Office of the President and other executive departments, and independent agencies. A hearing is a meeting of the Senate, House, joint or certain Government committee that is open to the public so that they can listen in on the opinions of the legislation. Hearings can also be held to explore certain topics or a current issue. It typically takes between two months up to two years to be published. This is one of those hearings.