Domestic Safeguards
What We Regulate
The NRC's domestic safeguards program is aimed at ensuring that special nuclear material within the United States is not stolen or otherwise diverted from civilian facilities for possible use in clandestine fissile explosives and does not pose an unreasonable risk owing to radiological sabotage. The users of the special nuclear and certain quantities of biproduct material apply safeguards to protect against sabotage, theft, and diversion, including
- Physical protection of facilities and/or special nuclear material at both fixed sites and during transportation and
- Material control and accounting for special nuclear material.
In order to determine how much physical protection is enough, the NRC has a threat assessment program to maintain awareness of the capabilities of potential adversaries and threats to facilities, material, and activities.
