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69-699: In March 1983, the GAP worked with whistleblower Rick Parks to inform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about alleged problems with cleanup procedures after the Three Mile Island accident . Parks also alleged his apartment had been broken into and drugs were planted in his van. This was popularized in the Netflix documentary Meltdown: Three Mile Island . In 1992, the GAP represented Aldric Saucier , who had lost his job and security clearance after he criticized

138-634: A FOIA request. NRC conducts audits and training inspections, observes the National Nuclear Accrediting Board meetings, and nominates some members. The 1980 Kemeny Commission's report after the Three Mile Island accident recommended that the nuclear energy industry "set and police its own standards of excellence". The nuclear industry founded the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) within 9 months to establish personnel training and qualification. The industry through INPO created

207-437: A $ 500 million kickback to senior U.N. and Kosovo officials in connection with the construction of a new coal mine and power plant. The UN Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) found he was subjected to serious and protracted retaliation which he faced without protection from the U.N. Ethics Office – the unit established to investigate and act against such reprisals. Wasserstrom faced relentless negative personal and professional consequences of

276-615: A bill that would extend for three years the authority for federal employees who appeal a judgment of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to file their appeal at any federal court, instead of only the US Court of Appeals . The pilot program was established in the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA) to last only two years. The GAP called the program a "landmark" and said that it

345-548: A city block but would not have presented an immediate health hazard. Twelve years into NRC operations, a 1987 congressional report entitled "NRC Coziness with Industry" concluded, that the NRC "has not maintained an arms length regulatory posture with the commercial nuclear power industry ... [and] has, in some critical areas, abdicated its role as a regulator altogether". To cite three examples: A 1986 Congressional report found that NRC staff had provided valuable technical assistance to

414-726: A library, which also contains online document collections. In 1984 it started an electronic repository called ADAMS, the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System, for its public inspection reports, correspondence, and other technical documents written by NRC staff, contractors, and licensees. It was upgraded in October 2010 and is now web-based. Of documents from 1980 to 1999 only some have abstracts and/or full text; most are citations. Documents from before 1980 are available in paper or microfiche formats. Copies of these older documents or classified documents can be applied for with

483-617: A potential subsequent transition of power. Partners in the initiative included the American Constitution Society , American Oversight, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington , Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Protect Democracy, Public Citizen , and We The Action. The GAP advocated in favor of the All Circuit Review Extension Act (H.R. 4197; 113th Congress) ,

552-417: A sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments, when "lobbying for the purchase of equipment made by Westinghouse Electric Company and other domestic manufacturers". This gives the appearance of a regulator which is acting in a commercial capacity, "raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest ". San Clemente Green, an environmental group opposed to the continued operation of

621-533: A searchable database, and used for experiments in facial recognition , to monitor known targets, and to discover new targets. The choice of Yahoo! for surveillance was taken because "Yahoo webcam is known to be used by GCHQ targets". Unlike the US NSA , the UK GCHQ is not required by law to minimise the collection from domestic citizens, so UK citizens could have been targeted on the same level as non-UK citizens. The story

690-632: A single charge of "Unauthorized Disclosure of Sensitive Security Information" – an unclassified "hybrid secrecy" label the TSA retroactively applied to the information that he disclosed. Jim Schrier is a veteran food safety inspector for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) who was retaliated against after reporting violations of humane handling regulations at an agency-regulated Tyson Foods slaughter plant in Iowa. Serving as an inspector for 29 years, Schrier reported

759-618: A vast scale by the agency with the approval of the White House after 9/11). Drake argued that Stellar Wind violated the Constitution and American citizens' civil liberties while weakening national security. In April 2010, the Department of Justice charged him with 10 felonies (five under the Espionage Act ) and he faced 35 years in prison. He was the first whistleblower charged with espionage by

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828-450: Is $ 1,059.5 million, with 3,895.9 full-time equivalents (FTE), 90 percent of which is recovered by fees. This is an increase of $ 3.6 million, including 65.1 FTE, compared to FY 2014. NRC headquarters offices are located in unincorporated North Bethesda, Maryland (although the mailing address for two of the three main buildings in the complex list the city as Rockville, MD ), and there are four regional offices. The NRC territory

897-477: Is broken down into four geographical regions; until the late 1990s, there was a Region V office in Walnut Creek, California which was absorbed into Region IV, and Region V was dissolved. In these four regions NRC oversees the operation of US nuclear reactors , namely 94 power-producing reactors, and 31 non-power-producing, or research and test reactors. Oversight is done on several levels. For example: NRC has

966-596: Is closely related to the National Academy for Nuclear Training, not a government body, and referred to as independent by INPO, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and nuclear utilities. but not by the NRC, all of whom are represented on the board. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act directed NRC in Section 306 to issue regulations or "other appropriate regulatory guidance" on training of nuclear plant personnel. Since

1035-464: Is designated by the president to be the chairman and official spokesperson of the commission. The chairman is the principal executive officer of the NRC, who exercise all of the executive and administrative functions of the commission. The current chairman is Christopher T. Hanson . President Biden designated Hanson as chairman of the NRC effective January 20, 2021. The current commissioners as of September 24, 2024: President Biden has nominated

1104-569: Is to regulate the nation's civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear materials to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment. The NRC's regulatory mission covers three main areas : The NRC is headed by five commissioners appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate for five-year terms. One of them

1173-554: The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in 1975, responsible for development and oversight of nuclear weapons . Research and promotion of civil uses of radioactive materials, such as for nuclear non-destructive testing , nuclear medicine, and nuclear power , was split into the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science & Technology within ERDA by the same act. In 1977, ERDA became

1242-752: The San Onofre Nuclear Plant , said in 2011 that instead of being a watchdog, the NRC too often rules in favor of nuclear plant operators. In 2011, the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami led to unprecedented damage and flooding of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant . The subsequent loss of offsite power and flooding of onsite emergency diesel generators led to loss of coolant and subsequent Nuclear meltdown of three reactor cores. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster led to an uncontrolled release of radioactive contamination, and forced

1311-534: The Strategic Defense Initiative . In December 2012, Eric Ben-Artzi came forward publicly with evidence of multi-billion dollar securities violations at his employer, Deutsche Bank . He internally reported violations stemming from the bank's failure to report the value of its credit derivatives portfolio accurately. The bank retaliated in multiple ways and ultimately dismissed him. the GAP filed an official whistleblower complaint on Ben-Artzi's behalf. He

1380-741: The United States . However, the case for widespread nuclear plant construction was eroded due to abundant natural gas supplies. Many license applications for proposed new reactors were suspended or cancelled. These will not be the cheapest energy options available, therefore not an attractive investment. In 2013, four reactors were permanently closed: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin. Vermont Yankee , in Vernon,

1449-832: The United States Department of Energy (DOE). In 2000, the National Nuclear Security Administration was created as a subcomponent of DOE, responsible for nuclear weapons. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the NRC developed a guidance strategy known as "Diverse and Flexible Coping Strategies (FLEX)" which requires licensee nuclear power plants to account for beyond-design-basis external events (seismic, flooding, high-winds, etc.) that are most impactful to reactor safety through loss of power and loss of ultimate heat sink. FLEX Strategies have been implemented at all operating nuclear power plants in

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1518-553: The 'National Academy for Nuclear Training Program' either as early as 1980 or in September 1985 per the International Atomic Energy Agency . INPO refers to NANT as "our National Academy for Nuclear Training" on its website. NANT integrates and standardizes the training programs of INPO and US nuclear energy companies, offers training scholarships and interacts with the 'National Nuclear Accrediting Board'. This Board

1587-498: The 'Operator Requalification Rule' 59 FR 5938, Feb. 9, 1994, allowing each nuclear power plant company to conduct the operator licensing renewal examination every six years, eliminating the requirement of NRC-administered written requalification examination. In 1999, NRC issued a final rule on operator initial licensing examination, that allows companies to prepare, proctor, and grade their own operator initial licensing examinations. Facilities can "upon written request" continue to have

1656-475: The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, the NRC has often been too timid in ensuring that America's commercial reactors are operated safely: Nuclear power regulation is a textbook example of the problem of "regulatory capture" — in which an industry gains control of an agency meant to regulate it. Regulatory capture can be countered only by vigorous public scrutiny and Congressional oversight, but in

1725-637: The 32 years since Three Mile Island, interest in nuclear regulation has declined precipitously. An article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated that many forms of NRC regulatory failure exist, including regulations ignored by the common consent of NRC and industry: A worker (named George Galatis ) at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Connecticut kept warning management, that

1794-639: The Allegations Program, Office of Investigations, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, Region I, Region II, Region III, Region IV, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Administration, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, and Office of Small Business and Civil Rights. Of these operations offices, NRC's major program components are the first two offices mentioned above. NRC's proposed FY 2015 budget

1863-482: The Bank opened an investigation in his human rights advocacy after he obtained from Jim Yong Kim that he withdraw an unethical bonus awarded to CFO Bertrand Badre . The Democracy Protection Initiative was launched by the GAP in October 2020. The initiative aimed to encourage and provide support to whistleblowers who came forward with information relating to alleged interference in the 2020 United States elections and during

1932-507: The EISs and found significant flaws, included failure to consider significant issues of concern. It also found that the NRC management had significantly underestimated the risk and consequences posed by a severe reactor accident such as a full-scale nuclear meltdown. NRC management asserted, without scientific evidence, that the risk of such accidents were so "Small" that the impacts could be dismissed and therefore no analysis of human and environmental

2001-566: The Fukushima disaster, the NRC prepared a report in 2011 to examine the risk that dam failures posed on the nation's fleet of nuclear reactors. A redacted version of NRC's report on dam failures was posted on the NRC website on March 6. The original, un-redacted version was leaked to the public. The un-redacted version which was leaked to the public highlights the threat that flooding poses to nuclear power plants located near large dams and substantiates claims that NRC management has intentionally misled

2070-769: The General Counsel, Office of International Programs, Office of Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of the Executive Director for Operations). Christopher T. Hanson is the chairman of the NRC. There are 14 Executive Director for Operations offices: Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation , Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, Office of Enforcement, which investigates reports by nuclear power whistleblowers , specifically

2139-556: The Japanese Government to evacuate approximately 100,000 citizens. Gregory Jaczko was chairman of the NRC when the 2011 Fukushima disaster occurred in Japan. Jaczko looked for lessons for the US, and strengthened security regulations for nuclear power plants . For example, he supported the requirement that new plants be able to withstand an aircraft crash. On February 9, 2012, Jaczko cast

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2208-526: The NRC about the pipes and the NRC also did not know they existed. In March 2011, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a study critical of the NRC's 2010 performance as a regulator. The UCS said that over the years, it had found the NRC's enforcement of safety rules has not been "timely, consistent, or effective" and it cited 14 "near-misses" at U.S. plants in 2010 alone. In April 2011, Reuters reported that diplomatic cables showed NRC sometimes being used as

2277-570: The NRC approved a 20-year extension for the license of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant , although the Vermont state legislature voted overwhelmingly to deny an extension. The plant had been found to be leaking radioactive materials through a network of underground pipes, which Entergy had denied under oath even existed. At a hearing in 2009 Tony Klein, chairman of the Vermont House Natural Resources and Energy Committee had asked

2346-463: The NRC mailed the license to the West Virginia postal box. Upon receipt of the license, GAO officials were able to easily modify its stipulations and remove a limit on the amount of radioactive material they could buy. A spokesman for the NRC said that the agency considered the radioactive devices a "lower-level threat"; a bomb built with the materials could have contaminated an area about the length of

2415-714: The NSA with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and other governments. In 2013, the existence of the NSA metadata program was revealed, along with Boundless Informant , the PRISM electronic data mining program, the XKeyscore analytical tool, the Tempora interception project, the MUSCULAR access point and the massive FASCIA database, which contains trillions of device-location records. In 2014, Britain's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group

2484-541: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is "on the defensive to prove it is doing its job of ensuring safety". In October 2011, Jaczko described "a tension between wanting to move in a timely manner on regulatory questions, and not wanting to go too fast". In 2011 Edward J. Markey , Democrat of Massachusetts, criticized the NRC's response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and the decision-making on

2553-577: The Obama administration. All charges were eventually dropped when Drake pleaded to a misdemeanor count of exceeding the authorized use of a government computer, with no fine or prison time. In 2003, Federal Air Marshal (FAM) Robert MacLean revealed a cost-cutting plan to cancel FAM coverage from long distance flights on the eve of a confirmed al-Qaeda suicidal hijacking plan. The plan never went into effect after Congress protested, based solely on his whistleblowing disclosure. TSA fired him three years later with

2622-451: The Snowden leaks, Yahoo! planned to give all users the option to encrypt all communications with Yahoo!'s servers by April, 2014. Between 3% and 11% of the images captured by the webcams were sexually explicit in nature and deemed "undesirable nudity". Unfortunately   ... it would appear that a surprising number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate parts of their body to

2691-556: The United States and elsewhere. In March 2007, undercover investigators from the Government Accountability Office set up a false company and obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would have allowed them to buy the radioactive materials needed for a dirty bomb. According to the GAO report, NRC officials did not visit the company or attempt to personally interview its executives. Instead, within 28 days,

2760-616: The United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 , the NRC began operations on January 19, 1975, as one of two successor agencies to the United States Atomic Energy Commission . Its functions include overseeing reactor safety and security, administering reactor licensing and renewal, licensing radioactive materials , radionuclide safety, and managing

2829-567: The United States. The origins and development of NRC regulatory processes and policies are explained in five volumes of history published by the University of California Press . These are: The NRC has produced a booklet, A Short History of Nuclear Regulation 1946–2009 , which outlines key issues in NRC history. Thomas Wellock , a former academic, is the NRC historian. Before joining the NRC, Wellock wrote Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958–1978 . The NRC's mission

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2898-417: The examinations prepared and administered by NRC staff, but if a company volunteers to prepare the examination, NRC continues to approve and administer it. Since 2000 meetings between NRC and applicants or licensees have been open to the public. Between 2007 and 2009, 13 companies applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction and operating licenses to build 25 new nuclear power reactors in

2967-520: The five-member NRC had become "captive of the industries that it regulates". Numerous different observers have criticized the NRC as an example of regulatory capture The NRC has been accused of having conflicting roles as regulator and "salesman" in a 2011 Reuters article, doing an inadequate job by the Union of Concerned Scientists , and the agency approval process has been called a "rubber stamp". Frank N. von Hippel wrote in March 2011, that despite

3036-647: The following to fill a seat on the commission. They await Senate confirmation. The NRC consists of the commission on the one hand and offices of the executive director for Operations on the other. The commission is divided into two committees (Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes) and one Board, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, as well as eight commission staff offices (Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication, Office of Congressional Affairs, Office of

3105-477: The future. This will reduce demand for replacement new builds. Byrne and Hoffman wrote in 1996, that since the 1980s the NRC has generally favored the interests of nuclear industry, and been unduly responsive to industry concerns, while failing to pursue tough regulation. The NRC has often sought to hamper or deny public access to the regulatory process, and created new barriers to public participation. Barack Obama , when running for president in 2007, said that

3174-520: The industry's own Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), an organization formed by utilities in response to the Three Mile Island Accident. One example involves the license renewal program that NRC initiated to extend the operating licenses for the nation's fleet of commercial nuclear reactors. Environmental impact statements (EIS) were prepared for each reactor to extend the operational period from 40 to 60 years. One study examined

3243-401: The information from GCHQ's large network of Internet cable taps , feeding into systems provided by the United States' National Security Agency . NSA research was used to build the tool to isolate the webcam traffic. Given that both Yahoo! Messenger chats and webcam streams are sent unencrypted, it would have been relatively easy (though not trivial) to intercept the webcam traffic. Following

3312-519: The lone dissenting vote on plans to build the first new nuclear power plant in more than 30 years when the NRC voted 4–1 to allow Atlanta-based Southern Co to build and operate two new nuclear power reactors at its existing Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia. He cited safety concerns stemming from Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster , saying "I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima never happened". In July 2011, Mark Cooper said that

3381-488: The nuclear industry already had developed training and accreditation, NRC issued a policy statement in 1985, endorsing the INPO program. NRC has a memorandum of agreement with INPO and "monitors INPO activities by observing accreditation team visits and the monthly NNAB meetings". In 1993, NRC endorsed the industry's approach to training that had been used for nearly a decade through its 'Training Rule'. In February 1994, NRC passed

3450-508: The other person. Also, the fact that the Yahoo! software allows more than one person to view a webcam stream without necessarily sending a reciprocal stream means that it appears sometimes to be used for broadcasting pornography. The documents mentioned interest in monitoring the video from the Xbox 360 and Xbox One 's Kinect camera, something which Microsoft has reported it was oblivious to. This

3519-477: The petition asks the NRC to halt proceedings to approve the standardized AP1000 and Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor designs. The petitioners asked the NRC to supplement its own investigation by establishing an independent commission comparable to that set up in the wake of the less severe 1979 Three Mile Island accident . The petitioners included Public Citizen , Southern Alliance for Clean Energy , and San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace . Following

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3588-1453: The proposed Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design. In 2011, a total of 45 groups and individuals from across the nation formally asked the NRC to suspend all licensing and other activities at 21 proposed nuclear reactor projects in 15 states until the NRC completed a thorough post- Fukushima nuclear disaster examination: The petition seeks suspension of six existing reactor license renewal decisions ( Columbia Generating Station , WA Davis–Besse Nuclear Power Station , OH, Diablo Canyon Power Plant , CA, Indian Point Energy Center , NY, Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station , MA, and Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant , NH); 13 new reactor combined construction permit and operating license decisions ( Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station Units 3 and 4, AL, Bell Bend, Callaway Nuclear Generating Station , MO, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Generating Station , MD, Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant , TX, Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station , MI, Levy County Nuclear Power Plant , FL North Anna Nuclear Generating Station , VA, Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant , NC, South Texas Nuclear Generating Station , TX, Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station , FL, Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant , GA, and William States Lee III Nuclear Generating Station , SC);a construction permit decision (Bellefonte Units 1 and 2); and an operating license decision ( Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station , TN). In addition,

3657-545: The public for years about the severity of the flooding. Optic Nerve (GCHQ) Optic Nerve is a mass surveillance programme run by the British signals intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), with help from the US National Security Agency , that surreptitiously collects private webcam still images from users while they are using a Yahoo! webcam application. As an example of

3726-464: The retaliation, while none of those who engaged in it suffered consequences themselves. He has since lobbied Congress successfully to strengthen State Department oversight of UN whistleblower protections . In early 2007, the GAP was responsible for exposing fraud and abuse at the highest levels of the World Bank . In May 2007, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz left the international organization in

3795-487: The risk posed to the nation by approximately two orders of magnitude (i.e., the true risk is about 100 greater than NRC represented). These findings were corroborated in a final report prepared by a special Washington State Legislature Nuclear Power Task Force, titled, "Doesn't NRC Address Consequences of Severe Accidents in EISs for re-licensing?" In Vermont, the day before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that damaged Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant ,

3864-462: The scale, in one 6-month period, the programme is reported to have collected images from 1.8 million Yahoo! user accounts globally. The programme was first reported on in the media in February 2014, from documents leaked by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden , but dates back to a prototype started in 2008, and was still active in at least 2012. The leaked documents describe

3933-691: The spent fuel rods were being put too quickly into the spent storage pool and that the number of rods in the pool exceeded specifications. Management ignored him, so he went directly to the NRC, which eventually admitted that it knew of both of the forbidden practices, which happened at many plants, but chose to ignore them. The whistleblower was fired and blacklisted. Terrorist attacks such as those executed by al-Qaeda on New York City and Washington, D.C. , on September 11, 2001 , and in London on July 7, 2005 , have prompted fears that extremist groups might use radioactive dirty bombs in further attacks in

4002-514: The storage, security, recycling, and disposal of spent fuel . Prior to 1975 the Atomic Energy Commission was in charge of matters regarding radionuclides. The AEC was dissolved, because it was perceived as unduly favoring the industry it was charged with regulating. The NRC was formed as an independent commission to oversee nuclear energy matters, oversight of nuclear medicine , and nuclear safety and security . The U.S. AEC became

4071-462: The users under surveillance as "unselected", meaning that data was collected indiscriminately in bulk from users regardless of whether they were an intelligence target or not. The vast majority of affected users would have been completely innocent of any crime or suspicion of a crime. Optic Nerve as described in the documents collected one still image every 5 minutes per user, attempting to comply with human rights legislation. The images were collected in

4140-440: The utility seeking an operating license for the controversial Seabrook plant . In the late 1980s, the NRC 'created a policy' of non-enforcement by asserting its discretion not to enforce license conditions; between September 1989 and 1994, the 'NRC has either waived or chosen not to enforce regulations at nuclear power reactors over 340 times'. Finally, critics charge that the NRC has ceded important aspects of regulatory authority to

4209-416: The violations involving market hogs, which included inadequate stunning techniques and conscious animals being shackled and slaughtered, to his supervisor. In early 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden began working with journalists to reveal widespread mass surveillance programs conducted by the NSA. Articles based on Snowden's documents revealed the existence of numerous global surveillance programs run by

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4278-665: The wake of wide-ranging scandals based on multiple releases of documents over the previous two months by the GAP. Released evidence and exposed information showed that: Wolfowitz's companion, Shaha Riza , received salary raises far in excess of those allowable under Bank rules; Riza received a questionable consulting position with a US defense contractor in 2003 at Wolfowitz' direction that has resulted in State and Defense Department inquiries; Juan José Daboub , Bank Managing Director and Wolfowitz-hire, attempted to remove references and funding for " family planning " in Bank projects; Wolfowitz' office

4347-446: Was "the WPEA's most significant structural reform", and argued that an extension of the program was needed in order to ensure that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Congress had enough time to see the results before deciding whether to make it permanent. Nuclear Regulatory Commission The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ( NRC ) is an independent agency of

4416-668: Was broken by The Guardian in February 2014, and is based on leaked documents dating to between 2008 and 2012. Yahoo! expressed outrage at the programme, when approached by The Guardian , and subsequently called it "a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy." A GCHQ spokesperson stated "It is a long-standing policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters". Though there were some limits to which photos security analysts were allowed to see, with bulk searches limited to metadata, security analysts were allowed to see "webcam images associated with similar Yahoo identifiers to your known target". Optic Nerve worked by collecting

4485-459: Was even performed. Such a conclusion is scientifically indefensible given the experience of the Three Mile Island , Chernobyl , and Fukushima accidents. Another finding was that NRC had concealed the risk posed to the public at large by disregarding one of the most important EIS requirements, mandating that cumulative impacts be assessed (40 Code of Federal Regulations §1508.7). By disregarding this basic requirement, NRC effectively misrepresented

4554-481: Was responsible for weakening a "climate change" strategy document; Bank Senior Management delayed reporting to Bank staff that a fellow staffer had been seriously wounded in a shooting in Iraq; World Bank lending to Africa during Fiscal Year of 2007 has plummeted; and Wolfowitz was trying to broaden the Bank's portfolio in Iraq over Board opposition. In 2016, the GAP represented World Bank whistleblower Fabrice Houdart when

4623-438: Was revealed, along with the Dishfire database, Squeaky Dolphin 's real-time monitoring of social media networks, and the bulk collection of private webcam images via the Optic Nerve program. In June 2013, Snowden became the eighth whistleblower charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration. As an officer at the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in 2007, James Wasserstrom blocked an alleged conspiracy to pay

4692-413: Was shut down on December 29, 2014. New York state eventually closed Indian Point Energy Center , in Buchanan, 30 miles from New York City, on April 30, 2021. In 2019 the NRC approved a second 20-year license extension for Turkey Point units 3 and 4, the first time NRC had extended licenses to 80 years total lifetime. Similar extensions for about 20 reactors are planned or intended, with more expected in

4761-441: Was ultimately awarded $ 8 million from the SEC, which he declined to collect. The GAP provided legal support to Thomas A. Drake , a former senior executive with the National Security Agency (NSA) who blew the whistle on multi-billion dollar programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse; the critical loss and suppression of 9/11 intelligence; and the Stellar Wind project's dragnet electronic mass surveillance and data-mining (conducted on

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