NRC History References

On this page:

• Books
• Booklets
• NRC History Blogs

Books

Through the Commission History Program, the origins and evolution of NRC regulatory policies are documented. They are discussed in five volumes of nuclear regulatory history published by the University of California Press. These volumes are:

1. Controlling the Atom: The Beginnings of Nuclear Regulation 1946-1962 (1984) (NUREG-1610).
2. Containing the Atom: Nuclear Regulation in a Changing Environment, 1963-1971 (1992) (NUREG-1933).
3. Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century (2000)
4. Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective (2004)
5. The Road to Yucca Mountain: The Development of Radioactive Waste Policy in the United States (2009)
6. Safe Enough? A History of Nuclear Power and Accident Risk. (2021)

Controlling the Atom has been reprinted by the NRC and is available from the Government Printing Office as NUREG-1610. Containing the Atom has also been reprinted by the NRC and is available as NUREG-1933. Permissible Dose, Three Mile Island and The Road to Yucca Mountain are available from the University of California Press.

Booklets

The NRC has published two booklets. A Short History of Nuclear Regulation, 1946-2009 (NUREG/BR-0175, Rev. 2) summarizes major issues in the NRC's history. No Undue Risk: Regulating the Safety of Operating Nuclear Power Plants (NUREG/BR-0518) is a history of important reactor safety improvements brought about by the NRC at operating nuclear power plants.

NRC History Blogs

• REFRESH — Putting the Axe to the 'Scram' Myth
• Moments in NRC History: Regulating for Safety and Non-Proliferation, Part II
• Moments in NRC History: Research and Test Reactors Series
• Penn State University's Breazeale Reactor Celebrates 60 Years
• CRUD: Another Acronym Bites the Dust
• NRC Celebrates A Milestone — 40 Years of Safety and Service
• Part II: Ensuring Safety in the First Temple of the Atom
• Part I — The First Temple of the Atom: The AEC and the North Carolina State Research Reactor
• Moments in NRC History: The Founding of the NRC
• Nuclear Swords into Electric Power Plowshares: The Megatons to Megawatts Program
• Waves of Uncertainty: The Demise of the Floating Reactor Concept (Part II)
• Floating Nuclear Power Plants: A Technical Solution to a Land-based Problem (Part I)
• Before the Browns Ferry Fire: Antiquated Notions That Electricity and Water Didn't Mix
• Melting Ice with the Peaceful Atom: The NRC and the End of the Cold War
• The Mystery of the Trowel – Solved
• The Mystery of the Atomic Energy Commission Trowel — Part I
• Channeling da Vinci: The Competition to Create the NRC Seal
• The Reactor Safety Study: The Birth, Death and Rebirth of PRA
• SATAN's Code: The Early Years of Accident Models
• Putting the Axe to the 'Scram' Myth
• Why Does The NRC Have an Official Historian?

For more information on NRC History, contact Thomas Wellock, NRC Historian.