A New Rule to Protect Radioactive Material (CRS)
A forthcoming Nuclear Regulatory Commission rule on the physical protection of radioactive “byproduct materials” — not including uranium or plutonium — is discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service.
“The rule will have broad impacts across the country and across most if not all aspects of industries that use radioactive material, including hospital and blood bank irradiators, industrial radiography equipment, massive facilities for irradiating certain foods and medical supplies, laboratory equipment for research into radiation and its effects, state regulators, and manufacturers, distributors, and transporters of radioactive sources. NRC anticipates that the rule will be published in the Federal Register in early 2013.”
See Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10 C.F.R. 37, A New Rule to Protect Radioactive Material: Background, Summary, Views from the Field, December 14, 2012.
Congress has directed CRS not to make its reports directly available to the public.
DOE has spent considerable time in the last few years focused on how to strengthen the Department’s workforce and deliver on its mission. The FY25 budget request looks to continue those investments.
The total number of U.S. nuclear warheads are now estimated to include 1,770 deployed warheads, 1,938 reserved for operational forces. An additional 1,336 retired warheads are awaiting dismantlement, for a total inventory of 5,044 warheads.
CHIPS is poised to ramp up demand for STEM graduates, but the nation’s education system is unprepared to produce them.
The Administration has continued to push for further clean energy investments, but faces a difficult fiscal environment in Congress – which has meant shortfalls for many priority areas like funding for CHIPS and Science.