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Nuclear Security and Safeguards
The NRC ensures safeguards and security by regulating licensees' (a) accounting
systems for special nuclear and source materials and (b) security programs
and contingency plans. These responsibilities include
Sections 3(c) and (e) of the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as revised, and Section 204(b)(1) of the Energy
Reorganization Act of 1974 give NRC the responsibility
for ensuring that the peaceful uses of nuclear energy "make the maximum
contribution to the common defense and security and the national welfare,
and ... provide continued assurance of the Government's ability to enter into
and enforce agreements with nations or groups of nations for the control of special nuclear material."
The terms safeguards and security are generally used to describe programs
that promote the common defense and security and protect public health and
safety by guarding against theft and sabotage. The licensee security programs
and contingency plans deal with threats, thefts, and sabotage relating
to special nuclear material, high-level radioactive wastes, nuclear facilities,
and other radioactive materials and activities that the NRC regulates.
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