Atomic Energy Advancement Act, Sec. 123 ("Advancement of Nuclear Regulatory Oversight")

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Defunct
• Most recent activity date: 2025-01-03

Risk subdomain coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has minimal coverage of AI risk domains, with only subdomain 7.3 (Lack of robustness) receiving a coverage score of 2. The document primarily focuses on nuclear regulatory oversight improvements and only briefly mentions AI/ML as a tool for risk-informed decision-making, without addressing specific AI risks or harms.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Trade, Transportation & Utilities
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Information
• Scientific Research & Development Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs the Public Administration sector (specifically the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and the nuclear energy industry, which falls under Utilities within the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector. The governance focuses on improving regulatory oversight processes, including potential use of AI/ML technologies.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative act from the United States Congress with mandatory reporting requirements, specific deadlines, and clear obligations imposed on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is a section of an Act passed by the United States Congress, which is the legislative body that proposed and enacted this governance instrument.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Nuclear Regulatory Commission; licensees holding licenses under section 103 or section 104 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954
• Summary: The document primarily targets the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, requiring it to submit reports and implement improvements. It also indirectly affects licensees (nuclear facility operators) through improved oversight procedures and potential adoption of advanced technologies including AI.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress; Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate
• Summary: Congress enforces compliance through its oversight committees, which receive mandatory reports and can conduct oversight hearings. The Comptroller General also has a monitoring and review role.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate; Comptroller General of the United States
• Summary: The appropriate committees of Congress receive reports and conduct oversight. The Comptroller General (head of the Government Accountability Office) is specifically tasked with reviewing and reporting on Commission facilities and operations.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document briefly mentions AI and machine learning as tools to be incorporated into nuclear regulatory oversight and inspection processes, specifically in the 'Deploy' and 'Operate and Monitor' stages. The focus is on using AI to enhance risk-informed decision-making in an operational regulatory context, rather than on developing AI systems themselves.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

The document makes only a brief, general reference to 'artificial intelligence and machine learning' as technologies to be used in nuclear regulatory oversight. It does not define or distinguish between AI models, systems, or specific types of AI, nor does it mention compute thresholds or model architectures.