Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (abbreviated NRC) is an agency of the United States government. It is responsible for the safety of nuclear power production and other civilian uses of nuclear materials.

History

Inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission visited Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to conduct a surprise evaluation of employee competence using the simulated workstation in their van. Smithers, reacting quickly, gave the three least-gifted employees (including Homer) the busy-work task of guarding a bee in the basement to hide them from the inspectors. However, Homer accidentally broke the jar containing the bee and it escapes. Homer chased after the bee and ended up emerging from a manhole right next to the van. As a result, the NRC inspectors ordered him to undergo a competency test.

When Homer got his turn in the van's simulator, he managed to cause a meltdown even though the van didn't have any nuclear material in it. Mr. Burns first tried to bribe his way out of the situation, but the inspectors were unmoved. Burns then tried to bodily eject the inspectors from his office by using his trapdoor, but that didn't work due to his office having been rearranged. The inspectors ruled that Homer needed college training in nuclear physics to be qualified for his job, and Homer ended up going to Springfield University.^[1]