United States Atomic Energy Commission

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United States Atomic Energy Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the Bicameralism legislature of the Federal government of the United States of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives....
to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology.

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The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II

World War II

United States Congress

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
signed the McMahon/Atomic Energy Act

Atomic Energy Act of 1946

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 determined how the United States federal government would control and manage the nuclear technology it had developed....
on August 1, 1946, transferring the control of atomic energy from military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
to civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agency, which often use rank structures similar to those of military units...
hands, effective from January 1, 1947.

This action reflected America's postwar optimism, with Congress declaring that atomic energy should be employed not only in the form of nuclear weapon

Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
s for the nation's defense, but also to promote world peace

Peace

Peace is a term that most commonly refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility, but which also represents a larger concept wherein there are healthy or newly-healed interpersonal relationship or international relations, safety in matters of social or economic welfare, the acknowledgment of equality and fairness in political re...
, improve the public welfare and strengthen free competition in private enterprise. The signing was the culmination of long months of intensive debate among politician

Politician

A politician is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of politics or a person who influences the way a society is governed....
s, military planners and atomic scientists over the fate of this new energy source. President Truman appointed David Lilienthal

David Lilienthal

David Eli Lilienthal was a capable and controversial United States public official. Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as one of three directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933, Lilienthal served as the Authority's chairman from 1941 to 1946 and was known as "Mr....
as the first Chairman of the AEC.

Congress gave the new civilian Commission extraordinary power and independence to carry out its mission. To provide the Commission exceptional freedom in hiring scientists and professionals, Commission employees were exempt from the Civil Service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis of merit which is proven by the use of competitive examinations....
system. Because of the need for great security, all production facilities and nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
s would be government-owned, while all technical information and research results would be under Commission control. The National Laboratory system was established from the facilities created under the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was the project to develop the first atomic weapon during World War II; involving the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada....
. Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy's oldest and largest science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs and is the largest in size in the Midwest ....
was one of the first laboratories authorized under this legislation as a contractor-operated facility dedicated to fulfilling the new Commission's mission.

Before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a United States government agency that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 in 1974, and was first opened January 19, 1975....
(NRC) was created, nuclear regulation was the responsibility of the AEC, which Congress first established in the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Eight years later, Congress replaced that law with the Atomic Energy Act Amendments of 1954, which for the first time made the development of commercial nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nucleus via controlled nuclear reactions. The only method in use today is through nuclear fission, though other methods might one day include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay ....
possible. The act assigned the AEC the functions of both encouraging the use of nuclear power and regulating its safety

Nuclear safety

Nuclear safety covers the actions taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents or to limit their consequences. This covers nuclear power plants as well as all other nuclear facilities, the transportation of nuclear materials, the use and storage of nuclear materials for medical, power, industry, and military uses....
. The AEC's regulatory programs sought to ensure public health and safety from the hazards of nuclear power without imposing excessive requirements that would inhibit the growth of the industry. This was a difficult goal to achieve, especially in a new industry, and within a short time the AEC's programs stirred considerable controversy. An increasing number of critics during the 1960s charged that the AEC's regulations were insufficiently rigorous in several important areas, including radiation

Radiation

In physics, radiation describes any process in which energy emitted by one body travels through a medium or through space, ultimately to be absorbed by another body....
protection standards, nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
safety, plant siting, and environmental protection.

By 1974, the AEC's regulatory programs had come under such strong attack that Congress decided to abolish the agency. Supporters and critics of nuclear power agreed that the promotional and regulatory duties of the AEC should be assigned to different agencies. The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974

The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 is a United States federal law that established the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, a single agency, the United States Atomic Energy Commission, had responsibility for the development and production of nuclear weapons and for both the development and the Nuclear safety...
put the regulatory functions of the AEC into the new NRC, which began operations on January 19, 1975; and placed the promotional functions within the Energy Research and Development Administration

Energy Research and Development Administration

The United States Energy Research and Development Administration was a United States government organization formed from the split of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1975....
, which was later incorporated into the United States Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a United States Cabinet-level department of the United States government of the United States responsible for Energy policy of the United States and nuclear safety....
.

AEC Chairperson

Term	Name	President(s) President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition.... served
1946-1950	David E. Lilienthal	Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
1950-1953	Gordon Dean Gordon Dean Gordon Dean was a Seattle-born American lawyer and prosecutor who served as chairman of the United States United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1950 to 1953....	Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
1953-1958	Lewis Strauss	Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
1958-1960	John A. McCone	Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
1961-1971	Glenn T. Seaborg Glenn T. Seaborg Glenn Theodore Seaborg was an American scientist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranic element," contributed to the discovery and isolation of ten elements, developed the actinide concept and was the first to propose the actinide series which led to the current arrangement of the Perio...	John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F.... , Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
1971-1973	James R. Schlesinger James R. Schlesinger James Rodney Schlesinger was United States Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He became America's first Secretary of Energy under Jimmy Carter....	Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
1973-1974	Dixy Lee Ray Dixy Lee Ray Dixy Lee Ray was the seventeenth Governor of the U.S. State of Washington. She was Washington's first female governor.She was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray ....	Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....

United States Atomic Energy Commission

AEC Chairperson

See also

External links