---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 2278b"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "2278b"
heading: "Photographing, etc., of Commission installations; penalty"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/2278b"
units:
  - "Chapter 23 — Development and Control of Atomic Energy"
  - "Division A — Atomic Energy"
  - "Subchapter XVII — Enforcement of Chapter"
---

# §2278b. Photographing, etc., of Commission installations; penalty


It shall be an offense, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both—

- (1) to make any photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map or graphical representation, while present on property subject to the jurisdiction, administration or in the custody of the [Commission](/usc/42/2014.md?p=f), of any installations or equipment designated by the President as requiring protection against the general dissemination of information relative thereto, in the interest of the [common defense and security](/usc/42/2014.md?p=g), without first obtaining the permission of the [Commission](/usc/42/2014.md?p=f), and promptly submitting the product obtained to the [Commission](/usc/42/2014.md?p=f) for inspection or such other action as may be deemed necessary; or
- (2) to use or permit the use of an aircraft or any contrivance used, or designed for navigation or flight in air, for the purpose of making a photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map or graphical representation of any installation or equipment designated by the President as provided in the preceding paragraph, unless authorized by the [Commission](/usc/42/2014.md?p=f).

## Source credit

(Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 724, title I, § 230, as added Aug. 6, 1956, ch. 1015, § 6, 70 Stat. 1070; renumbered title I, Pub. L. 102–486, title IX, § 902(a)(8), Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 2944.)