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Nuclear Weapons Buildup and the Rise of Nuclear Power, 1946–1970
- Vanderbilt University Press
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Evolution of U.S. Nuclear Waste Law and Policy 17 Nuclear Weapons Buildup and the Rise of Nuclear Power, 1946–1970 Shortly after the rapid development of the atomic bomb during World War II and the wartime demonstration in 1945 of the terrible power of nuclear technology, Congress adopted the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (AEA), which created the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to run a tightly centralized federal monopoly on all applications of nuclear technologies.1 Established as an extremely powerful agency with sweeping authority over all nuclear activities, AEC was overseen and supported within Congress by the powerful Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. The Cold War had begun, and AEC’s primary mission was to rapidly build up the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Involving various national laboratories, AEC carried out research and development on military and other applications of nuclear technologies, and manufactured nuclear weapons for the military . AEC built and operated a huge nuclear weapons production complex consisting of facilities, located in a number of different states, to enrich uranium, irradiate fuel rods through controlled fission in reactors, reprocess the irradiated fuel to extract plutonium, produce other weapons materials, and fabricate bombs. Military imperatives controlled AEC’s project mission and activities, and relatively little attention was paid to the large volumes of radioactive and chemically toxic wastes generated in the course of the push to produce weapons. The main facilities in the AEC weapons production complex were the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee (Oak Ridge), the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico (Los Alamos), the Hanford Site in the state of Washington (Hanford), the Savannah River Site in South Carolina (SRS), and the Idaho National Laboratory site in Idaho (INL).2 Oak Ridge housed two plants that separated uranium isotopes to produce enriched uranium that would sustain fission, as well as the first reactor dedicated to nuclear materials production, which produced small amounts of plutonium. Los Alamos was the research center of the Manhattan Project, where the first atomic bombs were designed and manufactured. Hanford Site eventually housed nine nuclear reactors, five reprocessing plants, and a plutonium-finishing plant to produce plutonium for weapons . SRS housed five heavy-water reactors to produce plutonium and tritium. INL was reserved for the design and testing of nuclear reactors and reprocessing plants. The most highly radioactive wastes were generally stored at the sites where they were produced, without any plan for their disposal. Less radioactive wastes were generally disposed of in on-site landfills. These various wastes resulted in significant contamination of the soil and groundwater at many sites.3 Although the AEC initially focused most of its attention on nuclear weapons development and testing, the agency was also in charge of developing nuclear reactors to generate electricity for the public. The federal government decided to adapt the basic process it had developed for controlled fission of enriched uranium in reactors to produce plutonium and use it to heat water in reactors to generate steam in order to propel nuclear submarines and to generate electricity for civilian use. The thorium fuel cycle for electricity production, which has significant potential advantages over the uranium fuel cycle in terms of ore abundance, wastes generated, and proliferation resistance while posing distinctive technical challenges, was considered at various times but never fully developed.4 The 1946 AEA granted AEC sweeping authority to regulate the use, possession, and transfer of nuclear technology and materials, including nuclear wastes.5 The commission was empowered to grant licenses for the use or possession of nuclear 18 Fuel Cycle to Nowhere materials, on the condition that the recipient adhere to AEC “safety standards to protect health.” AEC standards for licensing possession or use of fissionable material required licensees, in the most general terms, to “minimize danger from explosion or other hazard to life or property.”6 In 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower announced the Atoms for Peace initiative, under which the private sector, with assistance from AEC and subject to its regulatory oversight, would develop, construct, own, and operate nuclear electric generating plants. In 1954, Congress amended the AEA to authorize and regulate civilian uses of nuclear materials and spur expansion of civilian nuclear power.7 A central purpose of the amended statute was to “encourage widespread participation in the development and utilization of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.”8 Designed to promote development of a private nuclear industry, it included provisions authorizing private ownership of commercial production facilities. It required AEC to distribute “special nuclear material ” such as...