Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and began operations on the 19th of January 1975. It was created because its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, was perceived as unduly favoring the nuclear industry it was charged with regulating.
Bill Anders was the NRC's first chairman, appointed by President Gerald Ford and serving from the 19th of January 1975, through the 20th of April 1976.
The NRC oversees 94 power-producing reactors and 31 non-power-producing research and test reactors in the United States. Each power-producing reactor site has resident inspectors who monitor day-to-day operations.
FLEX stands for Diverse and Flexible Coping Strategies. The NRC developed it after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster to require licensed nuclear power plants to account for extreme external events such as seismic activity, flooding, and high winds that could cause loss of power and loss of cooling. FLEX strategies have been implemented at all operating U.S. nuclear power plants.
An unredacted version of a 2011 NRC report on dam failures, leaked to the public, concluded that one-third of the U.S. nuclear fleet, or 34 plants, may face flooding hazards greater than they were designed to withstand. The report also showed that NRC management had been aware of some aspects of this risk for 15 years without effectively addressing the problem.
A 1987 congressional report titled "NRC Coziness with Industry" found the agency had abdicated its regulatory role in critical areas. Between September 1989 and 1994, the NRC waived or chose not to enforce regulations at nuclear power plants more than 340 times. Barack Obama said in 2007 that the commission had become "captive of the industries that it regulates."