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Public Document Room

Notice to ADAMS Users

There are no ADAMS System Notices to report at this time.

The mission of NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) is to help the public find and obtain NRC information in the agency's extensive electronic, paper, and microfiche collections. The PDR is staffed by reference and technical librarians. Its holdings are focused on unclassified documents related to the NRC's licensing and rulemaking activities, as well as documents from the regulatory activities of the former Atomic Energy Commission.

The PDR is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. Telephone reference service is provided between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time at 301-415-4737 or at 1-800-397-4209, Monday through Friday except Federal holidays.

In order to make the most efficient use of available staff resources, we are changing the way the Public Document Room will be staffed. Beginning on Monday, March 31, 2014, access to the Public Document Room will be available weekdays during the hours 7:45 am to 4:15 pm:

  1. by prior request submitted via e-mail (pdr.resource@nrc.gov ); or
  2. by telephone request to the Public Document Room (301-415-4737); or
  3. Members of the public arriving at the entrance to One White Flint North may ask the guards to call the Technical Library to arrange a librarian to assist them; however, we strongly recommend using options 1 or 2 above to schedule an appointment in advance.

If you have any comments or questions, please contact Anna Therese McGowan, Chief of the User Services Branch. Ms. McGowan may be contacted at 301-415-7204 or Anna.McGowan@NRC.gov. Thank you very much for your understanding.

See the following for more information on the PDR and its services:

Visiting the PDR

The PDR is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. One White Flint North is a secure building and visitors to the PDR Reading Room must obtain a visitor's badge at the guard station in the lobby.

Certain prohibited items cannot be brought into the PDR. Those items include food or drink; items which could cause property damage or personal injury; cameras, copying, imaging, or recording devices; firearms, explosives, or incendiary devices. Copying or imaging devices that are prohibited include scanners, CD-ROM writers, photocopy machines, flash drives, or other devices that permit duplication of NRC documents.

Users planning to visit the PDR are encouraged to contact the reference staff to verify the availability of documents needed. Documents released before November 1, 1999 are available on microfiche; in selected instances, some documents released before November 1, 1999 are now also available in full-text in ADAMS.

The PDR provides computer access in the Reading Room for those users who wish to search NRC's electronic full text document retrieval systems. See ADAMS for details.

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Thursday, June 09, 2016