Concerns Regarding NRC's Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with respect to recent allegations about the agency's compliance with the act's provisions.

GAO found that all seven of the complainants had problems obtaining certain documents, receiving a timely response, or had disagreed with the use of exemption 5 in the act; however, four of them agreed that NRC appeared to be as or more responsive to their FOIA requests than other agencies. The NRC Executive Director noted that problems concerning the removal and destruction of documents have been corrected by the further clarification of agency FOIA policies and procedures within the agency. Although NRC has a computerized system to track published agency documents and reports, all documents cannot be tracked by this method; therefore, the system does not ensure that all documents and requests are handled consistently.