미국 원자력규제위원회의 원자력안전규제체계와 시사점－원자력 발전소에 대한 허가제도와 검사제도를 중심으로－

Nuclear power once promised to be cheap, clean, semi-homemade, and abundant and economic energy source for Korea. Today none of those claims are accurate. The tragic accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011 have caused another reconsideration of the role of nuclear power to many. The Korea government in general, the Korea Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, in particular are now confronted with safety regulation reform issues - so central to the core of their mission, as have arisen following the Fukushima accident and a series of domestic nuclear issues. On the other hand, despite of Fukushima and its own accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, nuclear power is a key element of the Obama Administration. This paper aims to study the regulatory framework of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and its approach to adequate protection, America’s regulatory standard for nuclear safety regulation, and to draw implications for our own regulatory practice. First, it provides the US nuclear industry overview, then covers regulatory overview based on the nuclear safety legislation framework and the NRC. Next, it explains the NRC regulatory practice in the following order: separation of regulatory function and decision-making, the adequate protection standard, the 10 CFR Part 52 licensing regime and inspection programs. Finally the paper discusses some lessons learned from the foregoing analyses.