all .gov content copyright free?

[esllou]

Is that basically true? Any federal government website materials can be copied and used?

I only need a few paragraphs off different sites (one being NASA and other a nuclear power station site)

[whoisgregg]

Not the case, because a .gov site may reproduce private entities copywritten works with their permission. A fine example of this is the .gov hosted Astronomy Picture of the Day [antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov] which includes both government and "civilian" pictures.

Generally speaking, .gov sites are very good about publishing the specifics of the content usage policies for their sites, you just have to look for it. :)