A Memorable Moment for Nuclear Protection

Of course, that which is presented will not be comprehensive. Though I hope a basic understanding of radiation protection will be allow the reader to appreciate this post. Less than a century ago, scientists who worked with radioactive material as a daily or semifrequent routine were almost certain to fall ill and succumb to radiation sickness. This is not the case for modern men and women, thankfully, who work with regulated nuclear materials. Protection from radiation is the reason for this shift in procedure and over time certain notable events took place which impacted how we perceive and enact protections.

AEC
The Atomic Energy Commission was created by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Eight years later Congress signed a similar act which allowed for power production usages. The safety measures set forth in these acts were fairly controversial and by the 1960s many believed that proposed criteria regarding plant siting, environmental safety standards, etc. were too rigorous. This led to the eventual creation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who is in charge of materials, safety, protections and a plethora of other tasks. Judging by its longevity, I'd say that the creation of the NRC was a huge success - we base many educational programs in the country off of their standards and so do other countries' governments with regard to commercial power.

Nuclear Accident
The Soviets built an RBMK style Gen. II graphite-moderated reactor which subsequently caused what is largely known as the Chernobyl disaster. The NRC published the second phase's results in April 1989 as NUREG-1251, "Implications of the Accident at Chernobyl for Safety Regulation of Commercial Nuclear Power Plants in the United States." The agency concluded that the lessons learned from Chernobyl fell short of requiring immediate changes in the NRC's regulations. All in all, this should be a testament to the strength of the engineers who came up with the existing NRC regulations. It is important for standards to be maintained and upheld.

The world could no longer 'idly' allow nuclear power plants to operate, and past sentiment over atmospheric testing was still fresh on the minds. The public demanded more and more transparent discussion take place in executive-style meetings within the government. This accident directly impacted many lives and everybody's home - earth. Since then, an ongoing effort takes place (which we are winning, btw) to keep the public harm-free. Thank you detections specialists.

Also, just a quick fun fact: if the world's estimated 8.5 billion people in 2050 were all to be relocated to texas, each person would have 90 square feet of personal space :)

References:
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/history.html