
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

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Congressional Affairs

The NRC keeps Congress fully informed of its activities. Members of the Commission and NRC senior staff regularly provide information to Congress and reply to inquiries from various committees of the House and the Senate and to Members of Congress who are interested in aspects of NRC responsibilities. NRC's Office of Congressional Affairs is the main conduit for NRC communications with Congress.

The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development have directed the NRC to provide monthly reports to Congress on the status of its licensing and regulatory activities. Each report includes the status of all license renewal applications under active review.

Congress may ask Commissioners or senior staff to present or submit testimony to oversight committees about specific activities of interest to Congress.

NRC Oversight Committees

The Senate and House Committees with jurisdiction over domestic nuclear regulatory activities are:

Senate: Committee on Environment and Public Works
House: Committee on Energy and Commerce

Within those Committees, the subcommittees with responsibility for legislation and oversight related to NRC are:

These two subcommittees have jurisdiction over authorizing legislation for the NRC and constitute Congress's principal oversight of NRC. we have a statutory responsibility to keep these two subcommittees "fully and currently informed" of NRC's activities.

In addition, other Congressional subcommittees have jurisdiction over certain aspects of NRC activities, such as appropriations, international affairs, and general government operations.

Laws that Govern NRC Activities

NRC was created when Congress passed the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. This Act, along with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, provides the foundation of NRC's regulation of the Nation's commercial nuclear power industry. In addition, Congress has passed a broad range of legislation that guides the Commission's mission and its operations in this and other areas.