behind the Commission's security barriers to evaluate the
opportunities for commercial development. On December
20, 1951, at the Cammission’s Idaho Test station, Zinn and
a group of engineers from the Argonne National
Laboratory succeeded in producing a token amount of
electricity from an experimental fast breeder reactor. This
historic accomplishment demonstrated in a practical way
that the atomic nucleus could serve mankind as a source
of power.(11)
Probably the most successful reactor program in the
1950’s was the naval reactors project established and
directed by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. On June 14, 1962,
at the keel-laying ceremony for the world’s first nuclear
powered ship, Chairman Gordon Dean noted that the pro-
pulsion of the submarine Nautilus would be thefirst prac-
tical utilization of atomic power, heretofore used primarily
as an explosive. The Navy projectlater played a significant
role in the widespread adoption of pressurized-water reactors by the nuclear powerindustry in the United States.(12)
By the end of 1962, technological developments had
generated a broadinterest in nuclear power in Congress as
well as in industry, and the election of a Republican president brought further encouragement. Indeed, there was
soon reason for optimism. Two outstanding accomplishments of the Eisenhoweryears, the 1953 Atomsfor-Peace plan, and the passage of the 1954 Atomic Energy
Act were to have a significant impact on the Nation's
nuclear program.(13)
Atoms for Peace
early summerresulted in a new law which opened the door
for an exchangeof nuclear technology. with other nations.
Althoughindustry did not gain the right to ownfissionable
material, liberal licensing provisions, greater access to
technical data, and the right to own reactors provided the
essential conditions for the private development of nuclear
powerin the United States.(16)
The Five Year Pian
Even before Congress had passed the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954, the Commission had launched a new program
for power reactor development. In early 1954 Strauss announced plans to test the basic designs then under study
by building five experimental reactors within five years. Of
the five reactor prototypes planned, the one with the most
immediate impact on nuclear power development wasthe
Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Based on the technology developed for nuclear
propulsion systems for submarines, Shippingport was
completed on schedule in late 1957 as the Nation's first
full-scale nuclear generating station.
The other reactor experiments constructed under the
five year program included the Sodium Reactor Experiment built by North American Aviation, a Commission
contractor in southern California; the Experimental Boiling
Water Reactor constructed at the Commission's Argonne
National Laboratory; and new models of the fast breeder
and homogeneous reactor experiments built in the early
1950's at the National Reactor Testing station in central
on December 8, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Idaho, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Of the five experiments in the program, the Shippingport and the Argonne boiling-water reactors encountered fewer technical probiems, but each experiment
contributed to the development of the technology needed
to build full-scale nuclear powerplantsin the future.
policy
Cooperation with Industry
Speaking before the United Nation’s General Assembly
declared that ‘‘peaceful power from atomic energy is no
dream of the future. . .that capability, already proved, is
here today.”(14) The President's Atoms-for-Peace proposal became a major pronouncement of America’s public
concerning
the
international
management
of
nuclear energy. With a sufficient supply of uranium to
satisfy its own military needs, by 1954 the United States
could turn its attention to the promotion of the peaceful
The terms of the Atomic Energy Act enabled the Commission to encourage private industry to build its own
Lewis Strauss had been President Eisenhower's special
assistant for atomic energy prior to his appointment as
Commission chairman in July 1953. Strongly committed to
national security during his early years as a Commissioner,
and supportive of Truman’s decision to expedite the
development of the thermonuclear weapon, Strauss was
now in a position to work closely with Eisenhowerin promoting the peaceful atom on a world-wide basis.
January 1955 Power Demonstration Reactor Program with
uses of nuclear energy.{15)
The Atomic Energy Act of 1964
The President's Atoms-for-Peace speech also focused
attention on the need for a fundamental revision of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1946 to enable the Commission to
share technical and scientific information with foreign
governments. On February 17, 1954, the President asked
Congress to pass legisiation “making it possible for
American atomic energy development, public and private,
to play a full and effective part in leading mankind into a
new era of progress and peace.” Exhaustive hearings in
the spring of 1964 and Congressional debate during the
nuclear plants, using fissionable material leased from the
Government. Industry responded to the Commission's
four proposals covering all but one of the Commission's
five prototypes. Thus by the end of 1957, the Commission
had seven experimental reactors in operation and
American industry was participating in nine independent
or cooperative projects capable of producing almost
800,000 kilowatts of electricity by the mid-1960’s. For the
momentat least, prospects for the future of the peaceful
atom were extremely encouraging.(17)
International Participation
In his Atoms-for-Peace proposal of December 8, 1953,
President Eisenhower had proposed that the nuclear
powers contribute portions of their stockpiles of normal
uranium and fissionable materials to an international
atomic energy agency, which would then allocate these
materials toward peaceful uses. After three years of patient diplomatic negotiations, the International Atomic
Energy Agency(IAEA) wasformally inaugurated in Vienna,
Austria on October 1, 1957. As head of the United States