The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975. The NRC oversees reactor safety and security, reactor licensing and renewal, radioactive material safety, and spent fuel management (storage, security, recycling, and disposal). Some observers have criticized the Commission as an example of regulatory capture and the NRC has been accused of doing an inadequate job by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The NRC's mission 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 is designated by the President to be the Chairman and official spokesperson of the Commission. The current chairman is Gregory B. Jaczko. He was first sworn in as a Commissioner on Jan. 21, 2005, and his term runs through June 2013. He was designated Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Barack Obama on May 13, 2009.

Samuel Norman Blakeslee (born June 25, 1955) is a Republican California State Senator representing California's 15th State Senate district, a former California State Assemblyman from California's 33rd State Assembly district, and a former State Assembly Republican Leader. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 2004 to represent the 33rd Assembly District, which includes the coastal communities of Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Lompoc, Atascadero, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, and Guadalupe. He was re-elected in 2006 and 2008, and elected to the California State Senate in 2010.

Blakeslee grew up on the Central Coast. He graduated from San Luis Obispo High School and then began a career in construction. Years later, he returned to school and attended Cuesta College, where his father, Earle Blakeslee, taught music when the college first opened in 1965. He later earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in geophysics from University of California, Berkeley. Blakeslee earned a Ph.D. from University of California, Santa Barbara for his research in seismic scattering, micro-earthquake studies, and fault-zone attenuation. He is published in numerous scientific journals.

Gregory B. Jaczko (pronounced /ˈjɑːskoʊ/; born October 29, 1970, Norristown, Pennsylvania) is the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). On May 21, 2012, he announced his resignation pending the confirmation of the next person to fill this role.

Jaczko was raised in Albany, New York. He studied physics and philosophy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and earned a bachelor in the two disciplines, there, in 1993. He also earned a doctorate in theoretical particle physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 1999.

He served as a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of U.S. Representative Ed Markey in Washington, D.C. on the basis of an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. He also worked as an adjunct professor for Physics and Public Policy under Dr. Francis Slakey at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

He later advised the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on issues regarding nuclear power, and served as appropriations director for U.S. Senator Harry Reid and as Reid's science policy advisor.