Nuclear Safety, Research, Demonstration, and Development Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. § 9701, established nuclear safety policy for nuclear power plants supplying electric energy and electricity generation within the United States. The Act authorized a five-year demonstration program simulating conditions with light water nuclear reactors for the observation of control monitoring and phases of operation for nuclear reactor cores. The U.S. Department of Energy was authorized by the Act of Congress to conduct the nuclear reactor demonstration study while establishing a reactor engineering simulator facility at a United States national laboratory. The nuclear safety demonstration program was to provide research data regarding reactor design and simplification improvements given thermal power station simulations subjecting nuclear reactors to hypothesized calamity and customary operating conditions.
Long title | An Act to provide for an accelerated and coordinated program of light water nuclear reactor safety research, development and demonstration, to be carried out by the Department of Energy. |
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Acronyms (colloquial) | NSRDDA, NSRDA |
Nicknames | Nuclear Safety Research and Development Act of 1980 |
Enacted by | the 96th United States Congress |
Effective | December 22, 1980 |
Citations | |
Public law | 96-567 |
Statutes at Large | 94 Stat. 3329 |
Codification | |
Titles amended | 42 U.S.C.: Public Health and Social Welfare |
U.S.C. sections created | 42 U.S.C. ch. 104 § 9701 et seq. |
Legislative history | |
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The H.R. 7865 legislation was passed by the 96th U.S. Congressional session and enacted by the 39th President of the United States Jimmy Carter on December 22, 1980.
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9701
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9702
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9703
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9704
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9705
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9706
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9707
42 U.S.C. Chapter 104 § 9708
There have been studies that indicate nuclear energy may be one of the safest methods of energy production, resulting in a net decrease in human deaths.
According to an article published by NASA,
Using historical electricity production data and mortality and emission factors from the peer-reviewed scientific literature, we found that despite the three major nuclear accidents the world has experienced, nuclear power prevented an average of over 1.8 million net deaths worldwide between 1971-2009.[3]