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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION |
| Office of Public Affairs |
Telephone: 301/415-8200 |
| Washington, DC 20555-001 |
E-mail: opa@nrc.gov |
| Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA |
| No. 00-033 |
February 24, 2000 |
NRC to Relocate its Technical Training Center
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today its decision to relocate its Technical Training Center from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to a location in close proximity to the
NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. The Commission's decision, which is not scheduled to be fully implemented until the spring of 2003, was reached after considering the
views of the NRC staff, the staff of the Technical Training Center, the National Treasury Employees Union, the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, and representatives of the
Tennessee Congressional delegation.
The Technical Training Center was established in Chattanooga in 1980 as part of an expanded program of training based primarily on lessons learned from the Three Mile Island
accident. Chattanooga was originally selected as the site for enhanced inspector training because of the need to make greater use in the agency's technical training programs of
reactor simulators owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Since 1980, the NRC has purchased its own simulators and currently has four operating at the Chattanooga site. As
part of the decision to move the facility to Maryland, the Commission decided to retain all four of its current simulators.
The Commission recognizes that all four simulators, the Technical Training Center as an organization, and the facility's employees are valuable agency resources that will continue
to be needed in the future as the NRC continues through a period of tremendous change, including extensive regulatory reforms. However, the Commission has concluded that an
already excellent NRC training program can be improved by locating the Technical Training Center in the headquarters area so as to ensure that these NRC assets are utilized to their
fullest potential. In expectation of the increased use of the facility by the NRC staff, the Commission has directed the staff to develop a comprehensive, integrated training plan that
will better link the skills needed to implement the NRC mission to training course offerings.
Under the plan approved by the Commission, the Technical Training Center will remain in Chattanooga until at least March 2003, although a portion of the Center's 26 staff
members will move to Maryland by September 2001.
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