In April 2019, GAO identified four priority recommendations for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Since then, NRC has not implemented any priority recommendations. In April 2020, GAO identified three additional priority recommendation for NRC, bringing the total number to seven. These recommendations involve the following areas: (1) addressing the security of radiological sources. (2) impr

Since 2017, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has implemented changes to its fee-setting, billing, and budgeting processes in response to GAO, the NRC Office of Inspector General (OIG), and internal agency findings and recommendations: (1) Fee-Setting. NRC has improved the clarity, consistency, and transparency of its fee-setting process by, among other things, defining key terms used in th

What is it? Nuclear microreactors are very small reactors usually generating less than 50 megawatts electric (MWe). They are seen as an alternative to conventional (often around 1,000 MWe) or small modular reactors (50-300 MWe). By comparison, microreactors can be produced more quickly, and within weeks, transported and deployed to locations such as isolated military bases or communities affected

Examples of federal laws and regulations that apply to Native American cultural resources include: (1) The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). In August 2018, GAO reported that NAGPRA prohibits the intentional removal from, or excavation of, Native American cultural items from federal or tribal lands unless a permit has been issued and other requirements are met. NAGP

The 24 federal agencies GAO surveyed reported using the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) for authorizing cloud services. From June 2017 to July 2019, the number of authorizations granted through FedRAMP by the 24 agencies increased from 390 to 926, a 137 percent increase. However, 15 agencies reported that they did not always use the program for authorizing cloud servic

GAO found that the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council's (Permitting Council) process for developing and assessing member agencies' implementation of best practices for environmental reviews and authorizations, as required by Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), was generally consistent with key features of effective interagency collaboration that GAO

In March 2018, GAO identified 5 priority recommendations for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Since then, NRC has implemented 1 of those recommendations by assessing the effectiveness of its trustworthiness and reliability process by which licensees approve employees for unescorted access to high-risk radiological sources at industrial facilities and providing licenses with additional gui

The 18 experts at a meeting GAO convened with the National Academies of Sciences generally agreed that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) assessment of risks of radioactive material does not include all relevant criteria. NRC limits its criteria to prompt fatalities and deterministic health effects from radiation, which, according to the experts and recent studies, are unlikely to result fro

None of the 24 agencies have policies that fully addressed the role of their Chief Information Officers (CIO) consistent with federal laws and guidance. In addition, the majority of the agencies did not fully address the role of their CIOs for any of the six key areas that GAO identified. Among other things, officials from most agencies stated that their CIOs are implementing the responsibilities

As required by the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act of 2015 (act), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) developed a cybersecurity coding structure under the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) as well as procedures for assigning codes to federal civilian cybersecurity positions. However, OPM issued the coding structure and procedures 5 and 4 months later than