Nuclear technology is moving fast, and regulation has to keep up - EUROPE SAYS
Terry Gerton You are just coming back to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after spending several at the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA. First of all, why did you do that? And second of all what did. . .
Terry Gerton You are just coming back to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after spending several at the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA. First of all, why did you do that? And second of all what did you learn there, especially in the international space that you’re bringing back to NRC?Anna Bradford Thank you. That’s a good question. The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA as you said, it’s a United Nations agency that deals with peaceful uses of the atom, essentially. And so it deals with a wide range of activities. I was there to deal with the safety of nuclear installations, whether it’s nuclear power reactors, fuel cycle facilities, research reactors, specifically the safety side of those. It’s very much in conjunction with what the NRC does in the U. S. The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission does safety requirements and security requirements for domestic facilities, where the IAEA is promulgating safety standards internationally. And many countries rely very highly on those proposed regulations coming out of the IEA. So there’s a lot of synergy there in terms of the type of work that we do, the idea that you’re protecting public health and safety when it comes to the use of nuclear materials. And so, to me, it was an attractive thing to do, to take the experience I had gotten here domestically at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and take it to sort of the global level. It was really a good professional and personal learning experience. What did I learn coming back? I think that one thing I realized is that there is a lot of consistency in terms of requirements for safety for nuclear power and nuclear regulations and facilities. So I, again, was familiar with the U. S. approach to regulation. So when I went to this international organization, I thought there’s probably going to be a lot of differences here in terms of what they require for facilities and what the U. S. requires for facilities. It’s actually very, very similar. There was not a regulation or a requirement that I read at the IAEA that I thought, oh my gosh, that is so different than what we do in the U. S. It shows me that there’s a lot of harmonization globally. There’s a a lot agreement on what needs to be done for nuclear safety, and that regulators work together literally across the globe to make sure these facilities are safe. ]]>Terry Gerton As you bring that knowledge back, you’re coming back into the position of the head of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. What do you think is gonna be top of the agenda for you?Anna Bradford Well, so my office, we’re going through a reorganization right now in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and we’re streamlining our activities and making sure we’re staying focused on the right things. My office will be emphasizing its oversight of operating reactors, licensing of operating reactors. So not the advanced reactors or reactors that are in development or construction, but the ones that have been operating for 50, 60 years. We want to make sure those reactors are staying safe and secure. Security will also be in our office now. So that has to be our number one priority regardless of the reorganization or anything else going on. Terry Gerton Well, talk to us about that reorganization for a minute. Why take on a reorganization within the NRC? What’s the problem that is driving that?Anna Bradford Yeah. I’m not sure there’s a problem. I think that the world is changing and we need to change with it. It’s been quite a while since the NRC has undergone a major reorganization and I think we want to align more with how nuclear technologies are evolving, with how the industry is evolving. With all the new information we have from the data we’ve gained from operations of reactors for literally decades, what have we learned from that and what can we apply now? So we think this reorganization will keep us focused on the right things. Terry Gerton And how do you see your new office fitting into that reorganization?Anna Bradford So as I mentioned, we’ll be overseeing the operating reactors, but there will be other offices that are, for example, doing the permitting and the licensing of new reactors. There’s a lot of exciting ideas out there of new types of reactor designs that have not really been licensed in the U. S. before, or only maybe one or two have been licensed. So they’ll be doing that work. I will need to stay in close communications with the office director of that office to make sure we’re staying in alignment on technical issues and permitting issues. So I think, it’s crystal clear to me that our office will stay focused on the safety of the operating reactors regardless of what else is going on in the agency. Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Anna Bradford. She’s director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Anna, there’s a lot going on in the nuclear power space. You talked about the long time operating models and I have in my mind a mental picture of Three Mile Island. Just goes to show you how old I am. But we’re hearing talk of portable reactors and containerized reactors and those sorts of things. And at the same time, There’s a lot of international insecurity around nuclear materials. How do you see the work of the NRC right now in a space that is changing so rapidly?]]>Anna Bradford That’s a good point. And that fits into the comment I made that the world is changing and we need to change with it. 30 years ago, the only type of nuclear reactor, for the most part, was a very large one that was stationary that you built in one place. And now there’s things like transportable reactors or small modular reactors. Or there’s talk of using essentially small modular reactors to power cargo ships. So now, there’s a lot of movement of these types. And the business model has become very international. And so we need to have also the perspective of that. You know, what does that mean from a technical perspective that this reactor might be small enough that you could throw it on the back of a pickup truck and take it somewhere else to use it? We need to take that into account during our technical reviews. And this is another reason to reorganize, to make sure we’re focusing on the areas that need to be focused on in this new environment. Terry Gerton And as NRC adjusts then from the kinds of reactors that you’re gonna be focused on, these long time operating single location ones to this new portability concept, what has to change about the regulatory framework in that space?Anna Bradford I think we’re moving towards a more performance-based model, which means we set the goals for what the designers and the operators need to achieve, the level of safety that they need to achieve it, and then they will explain to us how they plan to meet that level of safety. Because there are so many different designs, there’s different ways to achieve the same goal. And so we need to allow them the flexibility to do that. These reactors are very, very different than the large light water reactors that have been in operation. And so, we need recognize that while still maintaining the level of safety that we have for the large reactors. Terry Gerton It seems to me that one of the keys of successful regulation in this space is community engagement. If you live downwind from a nuclear reactor, you care a lot about how that’s operating. How is NRC and how will your office approach community engagement, making sure people know what’s going on?Anna Bradford I agree with you. And community engagement has been very important to the NRC for a long time, since its formation, really. We have many avenues for public engagement. We have public meetings. We put out our documents for public comment. Often our public meetings are near the site that we’re talking about. So for example, one thing in my office is license renewal of a nuclear power reactor. So if it’s coming to the end of its original 40-year license. They can apply to operate for another 20 years, and we’ll do a technical review, an environmental review, decide if that’s safe. And if so, we will issue the license to them. And during that process, there are touch points, I’ll call them, where the public can provide us our feedback with what they think about what it is we’re proposing. Terry Gerton How does NRC interact with other federal agencies who might be in this space? We talked to folks at EPA not too long ago who had looked at environmental threats to significant infrastructure like reactors. How do you cross those organizational boundaries and make sure that you’re staying streamlined?Anna Bradford It’s very important. I agree with you. So we talk to the Environmental Protection Agency, for example, when it comes to radiation protection issues because they have a lot of information and experience in that area. So we want to stay aligned with them when, for example, we set radiation protection limits. We also recently have increased our engagements with the Department of Energy because they’re very involved in the development and research of new reactors, as well as the Department of Defense because they are interested in using some of these small portable reactors to power, for example, maybe one of their remote bases. And so I would say our engagement with other government agencies, it’s always existed. We’ve always done it, but it’s increasing over the last few years. Terry Gerton And as you’ve looked at the organization from the outside while you were at IAEA and now you’re coming back inside, are there particular areas that you want to make sure get addressed or connected or just, you know, operate better?Anna Bradford I realized while I was at the IAEA, you know, I had the opportunity to interact at a very high level with nuclear regulators across the globe. Those that both have mature nuclear industries such as France, which gets 80% of its electricity from nuclear power plants, to those that are just now building their first reactor such as Bangladesh or Turkey. And one thing I’ve realized is there are a lot of different ways to approach regulating a nuclear facility, and many of them can achieve the same results. So I think we need to be careful not to be insular and think that our way is the only way because it is not. There’s things we can learn from other countries. Many of them are under the same, I’ll call them pressures, with new reactor business models, new types of reactors, the pressure to do things in a more streamlined fashion and do it more quickly. So I think we can from them and they can learn from us and I wanna make sure we’re doing that. ]]>Terry Gerton So I would imagine you’re going to keep all those international friends close by. Anna Bradford Absolutely. High in your contact list? Yes, I have all their business cards and I can reach out to them if needed. Copyright© 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.