Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC is the governmental organizations of the safety of nuclear power production and other civilian uses of nuclear materials.

History

Inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission arrive at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to conduct a surprise evaluation of employee competence using the simulated workstation in their van. Smithers, reacting quickly, gives 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 breaks the jar containing the bee and it escapes. Homer chases after the bee and ends up emerging from a manhole right next to the van, thus being noticed by the inspectors in spite of Smithers' best efforts.

When Homer gets his turn in the van's simulator, he manages to cause a meltdown even though the van doesn't have any nuclear material in it. Mr. Burns first tries to bribe his way out of the situation, but the inspectors are unmoved. Burns then tries to bodily eject the inspectors from his office by using his trapdoor, but that doesn't work due to his office having been rearranged. The inspectors rule that Homer needs college training in nuclear physics to be qualified for his job.^[1]