The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created as an independent agency by Congress in 1974 to enable the nation to safely use radioactive materials for beneficial civilian purposes while ensuring that people and the environment are protected.

The NRC regulates the nation's civilian

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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 Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) furthers the agency’s regulatory mission by providing technical advice, technical tools and information for identifying and resolving safety issues, making regulatory decisions, and promulgating regulations and guidance.

RES is comprised of three technical divisions and one administrative division, each with their own responsibilities and program goals.

Functional descriptions of each division can be found at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/resfuncdesc.html.

RES awards support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by named Principal Investigators (PIs) in areas representing the investigators’ specific interests and competencies, based on the mission of the NRC to conduct independent research and analyses, develop technical bases for supporting realistic safety decisions, and evaluate safety issues involving current and new designs and technologies related to nuclear power and materials.

Areas of interest include, seismic and tsunami research, degradation of reactor component materials; integrity of reactor component and structures; uncertainty characterization and quantification of models and parameters used in reactor component integrity assessments; aging and durability of concrete, steel and composite structures; structural integrity of nuclear power plants structures; technical basis for issues affecting voluntary consensus standards; severe accident research (particularly analyses with MELCOR and MACCS); thermal-hydraulics research; nuclear fuel performance research; research to analyze post-accident equipment response and recovery (to support on-site accident response preparedness assessment; risks and possible prevention and mitigation strategies during accidents; enhancements in safety capabilities or other systems relied upon for accident prevention and mitigation at nuclear facilities); long term behavior of spent fuel storage and disposal systems; probabilistic risk assessment; human reliability analysis; human factors in advanced automation and/or digital instrumentation and control; fire safety research; or any other area relevant to the mission of the NRC will be accepted.