Key Issues
Fact Sheets
Beneficial Uses of Radiation
This fact sheet covers the many beneficial uses of radiation. Topics covered include: medicine; scientific research; agriculture and food production; space exploration; naval propulsion; industrial uses; and consumer products and services. Total contribution to the national economy is also detailed.
Chernobyl Accident and Its Consequences
The 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then part of the former Soviet Union, is the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power to cause fatalities from radiation. It was the product of a severely flawed Soviet-era reactor design combined with human error.
Emergency Preparedness Near Nuclear Power Plants
This fact sheet explains how energy companies develop and exercise emergency response plans to protect public health and safety near nuclear power plants.
Industry Closely Monitors, Controls Tritium at Nuclear Power Plants
The nuclear energy industry is committed to operating its plants safely and to protecting the environment. A combination of plant design and systems, and employee monitoring, helps prevent unplanned radioactive releases and helps control and contain them in the event that they should occur. No public health or safety risk has resulted from tritium releases at commercial nuclear power plants.
New Performance Index Provides Closer Look At Nuclear Plant Safety Systems
This fact sheet details the creation by NRC and the nuclear energy industry of a substitute indicator to assess plant performance: The mitigating system performance index. The index uses existing equipment performance data industry baseline performance data, and safety-importance weighting factors derived from plant probabilistic safety assessments to evaluate plant equipment performance.
Nuclear Plants’ Structural Strength, Emergency Plans Perform Well Through Hurricane Katrina
This fact sheet details how the design and structural strength of nuclear power plants in the path of Hurricane Katrina helped them bear the effects of the storm without sustaining serious damage.
Nuclear Power Plant Fire Protection
This fact sheet describes the sophisticated and highly regulated fire protection systems, equipment and procedures to ensure safety at nuclear power plants.
Nuclear Power Plant Security
This fact sheet details the defense-in-depth philosophy used in the construction and operation of nuclear power plants, which provides high levels of protection for public health and safety. The fact sheet describes the security-related improvements that have been carried out at nuclear plants since Sept. 11, 2001, as required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. All plants have emergency response procedures that would be conducted in the event of a plant accident or terrorist event.
Peer-Reviewed Science on Radiation Health Effects Dispels ‘Tooth Fairy Project’
For several decades, a small group of activists has tried to instill fear in the public that a substance called strontium-90 is evidence that low levels of radiation released from nuclear power plants causes cancer and other health problems in nearby residents. Since the claims first surfaced some 30 years ago, they continuously have been dismissed by mainstream scientists as scare tactics and “junk science,” contributing nothing to finding the real causes of cancer. They are instead manipulations of the public by these groups without any basis in science. These studies are known as the “tooth fairy project.”
Personnel Training
After investigating the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, the Kemeny Commission recommended that the U.S. nuclear energy industry “set and police its own standards of excellence.” Within nine months of the accident, the industry formed the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations to promote excellence in nuclear power plant operations, including the training of personnel.
Preventing the Proliferation of Nuclear Materials
This fact sheet details the efforts of the international community to prevent the proliferation of nuclear materials and components that could possibly be used to construct weaponry. Topics covered include the International Nonproliferation Treaty, Megatons to Megawatts and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
Price-Anderson Act Provides Effective Nuclear Insurance at No Cost to the Public
The U.S. nuclear power industry has an umbrella of more than $10 billion in liability insurance protection to be used in the event of a reactor incident. Utilities—not the public or the federal government—pay for this insurance.
Radiation Safety at Nuclear Power Plants: Studies Look at Public, Workers
This fact sheet covers efforts by NRC and the industry to protect the safety workers at nuclear power plants as well as the public that lives in the vicinity of the plants. Topics covered include the conclusions of BEIR VII report which said that health effects from radiation exposure were small and that current radiation protection standards for workers and the public are still valid.
Radiation Standards and Organizations Provide Safety for Public and Workers
Scientists have studied radiation effects for more than 100 years, and stringent safety regulations have governed man-made uses of this energy for nearly as long. Two new reports provide strong confirmation that the risk of health effects from exposure to low levels of radiation is small. They also conclude that current radiation protection standards for workers and the public remain valid.
Safety Benefits of Risk Assessment at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
This fact sheet details the development and use of probabilistic risk assessment in nuclear power plant design and operation, and how NRC has encouraged its use to increase public safety and plant performance.
Steps for Public Safety Against a ‘Dirty Bomb’
The use of radiological dispersion devices, also called “dirty bombs,” is one scenario that the government and private sector consider in protecting our nation. A dirty bomb is not a nuclear weapon that creates a large blast. Rather, it is a combination of an explosive and radioactive ma-terial designed to spread radioactive material and contaminate a small area.
The TMI 2 Accident: Its Impact, Its Lessons
This fact sheet explains that the accident at the Three Mile Island 2 nuclear power plant in 1979 was caused by a combination of equipment failure and the inability of plant operators to understand the reactor’s condition at certain times during the event. The event resulted in the release of a small amount of radioactive material but that no one was injured or killed.
