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Public Document Room

The mission of NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) is to help the public find and obtain NRC information in the agency's extensive electronic, paper, and microfiche collections. The PDR is staffed by technical information and documentation specialists. Its holding are focused on unclassified documents related to the NRC's licensing and rulemaking activities, as well as documents from the regulatory activities of the former Atomic Energy Commission.

The PDR is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville MD and is open to the public from 7:45 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time. Telephone reference service is provided between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday except Federal holidays.

See the following for more information on the PDR and its services:

• Contact the PDR Staff
• Services, Equipment, and Resources Available to the Public
• Reference Materials
• Document Holdings and Organization
• Copy Service and Fees
• Help with ADAMS

Changes to the PDR Reproduction Contract

The PDR reproduction contractor has recently notified the NRC that it has decided not to continue to provide reproduction services to the NRC Public Document Room. The current service will end on September 30, 2004. Because of the short notice, the NRC has not been able to contract with another company to provide copies of documents to PDR users. The NRC is actively seeking a new company to provide this service. As soon as a new contract is signed, we will provide you with information about the new services and prices. In the interim, the PDR staff will work with users to provide urgently needed copies. We ask for your patience and understanding during this time. If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the PDR staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737.

Visiting the PDR

The PDR is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville MD. One White Flint North is a secure building and visitors to the PDR Reading Room must obtain a visitor's badge at the guard station in the lobby. Couriers are welcome to pick up packages from the reproduction contractor, but they must follow the same entry procedures as other visitors.

Certain prohibited items cannot be brought into the PDR. Those items include: food or drink: items which could cause property damage or personal injury; cameras, copying, imaging, recording devices, firearms, explosives or incendiary devices. Copying or imaging devices which are prohibited include scanners, CD-Rom writers, photocopy machines or other devices which permit duplication of NRC documents.

Users planning to visit the PDR are encouraged to contact the reference staff to verify the availability of documents needed. In January 2000, the NRC discontinued delivery of paper copies to the PDR, although advance copies of certain high interest documents may still be available in paper for a limited time. Documents released before November 1, 1999 are available on microfiche, but most paper files have been sent off-site to a storage facility. These paper documents must be requested in advance for recall from the storage facility and delivery to the PDR for viewing.

The PDR provides computer access in the Reading Room for those users who wish to search NRC's electronic full text document retrieval systems. See ADAMS for details.

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Last revised Wednesday, September 29, 2004