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, and as such as was ordered by the NRC to undergo a 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]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission made an earlier appearance in Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish. After the negative publicity about the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant after the appearance of Blinky, the NRC ordered an inspection of the plant. It was considered in horrible shape, with high background radiation levels noticeable immediately when the inspectors activated their Geiger counters right upon approaching the guardhouse. Safety violations were numerous, such as pipes leaking radioactive material, a crack in the cooling tower being inappropriately caulked (used chewing gum was found inside the crack), the monitoring station was unmanned (Homer was found dozing on the job), a plutonium rod being dangerous exposed in the open (and used as a paperweight). Mr. Burns attempted to bribe the chief inspector with cash, but this did not work; Burns being told he must rectify all safety violations or the Springfield Nuclear Plant would be decommissioned.