Opinion: Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s foot-dragging on patient irradiation suggests regulatory capture
Government agencies responsible for protecting the public from negligence and harm must act with independence and integrity and resist undue influence from those they are charged with overseeing. When they fail to do this, “regulatory capture” — advancing the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate an industry or sector instead of the public interest — can occur.
The results of regulatory capture can be catastrophic, like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s oversight failure of the Boeing 737 MAX, with corrective actions that were too late to avoid disaster and hundreds of deaths.
