Nuclear Energy Activist Toolkit #12: Finding Stuff in ADAMS Dave Lochbaum, director, Nuclear Safety Project August 13, 2013 In November 1999, the NRC discontinued providing information to local public document rooms near nuclear plants around the country in favor of an online electronic library it calls the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).
Finding records in ADAMS is wicked easy.
Finding records one actually wants in ADAMS is often just wicked.
One can search by key word or phrase or date or docket and literally get up to 1,000 hits (ADAMS will only return 1,000 hits even when 1,000,000 records match the search criterion. This makes it easier for you to find the record of interest among the 1,000 hits – unless, of course, that record is among the hits not returned.)
To make finding stuff even “easier,” records can be viewed in ADAMS by folders for the day they were added to the electronic library. The very descriptive information provided for each record make it extremely easy to zero right in on stuff of particular interest.,,,,,,,
the absolute easiest way to find a record in ADAMS is to have a hard copy in your hand before you start searching. If so, read the hard copy and save yourself the wasted time and undue agony trying to find it in ADAMS even when equipped with its date, subject, addressee, etc.
Even for immortals, life is just too short to become an ADAMS aficionado.
There are times when the federal government should not award contracts to the lowest bidder. Like when it seeks an online document library that is not “electronic keep away.”
The UCS Nuclear Energy Activist Toolkit (NEAT) is a series of post intended to help citizens understand nuclear technology and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s processes for overseeing nuclear plant safety.
