United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
A decedent of the Atomic Energy Commission, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) was created through the enactment of The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (USNRC, 2016). Primarily the USNRC is tasked with protecting the public from radiation hazards generated by public and private agencies, within the United States. This includes producing standards and regulations for radiation producing entities, such as nuclear reactors, and the disposal of nuclear waste.
This agency has a major role to play in ensuring the environmental health of the United States. For instance, the USNRC regulates how far nuclear, or other radiation producing facilities are to be from residential and commercial areas. Such regulations can help reduce the exposure of citizens from substances such as radon, which has been been strongly associated to several negative health outcomes, such as lung cancer (Alavanja, Lubin, Mahaffey, & Brownson, 1999). Therefore, the USNRC can help improve both public and environmental health, through the standards and regulations they impose on radiation producing facilities.
In addition to imposing regulations and standards on radiation producing facilities, the USNRC also helps monitor the disposal of nuclear and radioactive waste. As nuclear and radioactive waste have a major impact on the environment, the role of monitoring the disposal process of such materials is an essential function of environmental health. Other than monitoring nuclear and radioactive waste, the USNRC also conducts research to improve the ways in which nuclear and radioactive waste is disposed of.
References:
Alavanja MC, Lubin JH, Mahaffey JA, Brownson RC (1999). Residential radon exposure and risk of lung cancer in Missouri. American Journal of Public Health. 89(7):1042–1048.
Hi Samuel,
ReplyDeleteThe United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) sounds like it often works with the organization Yeana profiled, the Office of Environmental Management. This demonstrates that some issues are large enough where they are handled by multiple departments. This could have some positive and negative outcomes associated with it. For example, the agencies can solve problems by looking at issues from multiple perspectives. Conversely, things could get complicated if the agencies have differing opinions or views on how to resolve problems that arise. The USNRC has a very important job. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Samuel,
ReplyDeleteAs Elena mentioned above, the Office of Environmental Management from my post and USNRC from your post have similar jobs with nuclear. In particular, USNRC helps monitor the disposal of nuclear and radioactive waste, which OFFice of Environmental Management does too. It would be fun to compare each government’s agencies.