Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Pub. L.79–585 | |
Statutes at Large | ch. 724, 60 Stat. 755 |
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Legislative history | |
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Major amendments | |
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 |
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) determined how the United States would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. Most significantly, the Act ruled that nuclear weapon development and nuclear power management would be under civilian, rather than military control, and established the United States Atomic Energy Commission for this purpose.
It was sponsored by Senator Brien McMahon, a Democrat from Connecticut, who chaired the United States Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, and whose hearings in late 1945 and early 1946 led to the fine tuning and passing of the Act. The Senate passed the Act unanimously through voice vote, and it passed the House of Representatives 265–79. Signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on August 1, 1946, it went into effect on January 1, 1947, and the Atomic Energy Commission assumed responsibility for nuclear energy from the wartime Manhattan Project.
The Act was subsequently amended to promote private development of nuclear energy under the
Origins
In July 1944, Vannevar Bush, James B. Conant and Irvin Stewart produced a proposal for domestic legislation to control nuclear energy. Conant submitted this to the Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in September 1944,[2] and then to the Interim Committee, a body created by President Harry S. Truman in May 1945 to supervise, regulate and control nuclear energy until such a time as Congress created a permanent body to do so.[3] In June 1945, the Interim Committee asked George L. Harrison, an assistant to Stimson and a member of the committee, to prepare legislation.[4]
Creation of the Act
May–Johnson Bill
Harrison brought in two experienced
Royall and Marbury envisaged nuclear energy being controlled by experts, with a minimum of political interference. The commissioners would be appointed for indefinite terms, and the President's power to remove them would be limited. They would be supported by four advisory boards, for military applications, industrial uses, research and medicine, the membership of which would be restricted to those with technical qualifications. Day-to-day running of the organization would be in the hands of an administrator and his deputy. The Royall–Marbury Bill was reviewed by the Interim Committee at its July 19 meeting and revised in line with their suggestions. After the
On October 3, 1945, the bill was introduced in the
There was a storm of criticism from scientists, particularly those at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago.
Legislators found themselves in an unusual and uncomfortable situation. Nuclear weapons were terrifying, and the nature of nuclear energy was not widely understood. Because it was so new, there were no policies or precedents to guide legislators, and traditional party alignments were absent. The scientists who had developed the new technology had never been vocal before, but suddenly were now. The victorious conclusion of
McMahon Bill
On December 20, 1945, Senator Brien McMahon introduced an alternative bill on atomic energy, drafted by the Senate Military Affairs Committee, which quickly became known as the McMahon Bill.[14] This was initially a very liberal bill regarding the control of scientific research, and was broadly supported by scientists. McMahon framed the controversy as a question of military versus civilian control of atomic energy, although the May-Johnson Bill also provided for civilian control.[15] The McMahon Bill attempted to address the controversial aspects of the May-Johnson Bill. The number of commissioners was reduced to five, and they would serve full-time. No exemption was provided for serving military officers.[16] An amendment specified that they have staggered terms of five years.[17]
While the bill was being debated, the news broke on February 16, 1946, of the defection of Igor Gouzenko in Canada, and the subsequent arrest of 22 people. The members of Congress debating the bill feared that "atomic secrets" were being systematically stolen by Soviet atomic spies. McMahon convened an executive session at which Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover, Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and Groves were called to appear. Groves revealed that the British physicist Alan Nunn May had passed information about the Manhattan Project to Soviet agents.[18]
The more conservative elements in Congress now moved to toughen the act. Section 10, which was formerly titled "Dissemination of Information", now became "Control of Information".[19] This new section contained the novel doctrine later described as "born secret" or "classified at birth". All information concerning the design, development and manufacture of nuclear weapons was "restricted data", and regardless of how it was derived or obtained, was considered classified unless it was specifically declassified. This restriction on free speech, covering an entire subject matter, is still enforced. The "wall of secrecy" set up by the Act meant that atomic energy research and development had to be conducted under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Commission.[20]
Representative
The Senate passed the Act unanimously through voice vote on June 1, 1946.[24] Considerable political maneuvering was required before it was passed by the House 265–79 on July 20. A compromise bill was then agreed to by both houses on July 26.[25] Truman signed the compromise bill into law as the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 on August 1, 1946. When it went into effect at midnight on January 1, 1947, the newly created Atomic Energy Commission assumed responsibility for nuclear energy from the wartime Manhattan Project.[15]
Amendment
Private production of nuclear energy
An important omission from the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 was any mention of non-governmental use of nuclear energy, since military applications overshadowed all others at the time.
This was at odds with the
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 proved insufficient in its objective of encouraging privately built and run nuclear reactors. A series of accidents with research reactors, including partial
International relations
Implementing the McMahon Act created a substantial rift between United States and Britain. The new control of "restricted data" prevented the United States' allies from receiving any information, despite the fact that the British and Canadian governments, before contributing technology and manpower to the
The Hyde Park Agreement was lost in Roosevelt's papers after his death, and until the American copy of the document was found American officials were puzzled when the British mentioned it.
The stipulations contained in the Act caused significant controversy during debates over
Case law
A 2012 court decision concerning a state law attempting to shut down the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant affirmed that the Act gives the federal government exclusive authority over safety at nuclear power plants.[40] This allowed Vermont Yankee to continue operating until it was voluntarily shut down by the owner for economic reasons in 2014.[41]
Notes
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 324–325.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 325–326.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 345.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 360.
- ^ a b Jones 1985, pp. 568–569.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 408–415.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 408–416.
- ^ Jones 1985, pp. 574–575.
- ^ a b Jones 1985, pp. 574–576.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 428–429.
- ^ Miller 1948, pp. 803–805.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 431.
- ^ Miller 1948, pp. 799–803.
- ^ Canleton, Hewlett & Williams 1991, pp. 77–90.
- ^ a b Jones 1985, pp. 576–578.
- ^ Miller 1948, p. 808.
- ^ a b Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 511.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 501.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 512.
- ^ Morland 2004, pp. 1401–1402.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 510.
- ^ a b Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 524.
- ^ Miller 1948, pp. 811–812.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 516.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 528–530.
- ^ Ruebhausen & von Mehren 1953, p. 1450.
- ^ Ruebhausen & von Mehren 1953, pp. 1472–1476.
- ^ a b Byrne & Hoffman 1996, p. 136.
- ^ Hewlett & Holl 1989, pp. 113–115.
- ^ Hewlett & Holl 1989, pp. 136–143.
- ^ Sovacool 2008, p. 1808.
- United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Archived from the originalon July 2, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
- ^ a b Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 457–458.
- ^ Gott 1963, p. 240.
- ^ Calder 1953, pp. 303–306.
- ^ Gott 1963, pp. 246–247.
- US Government Printing Office. July 2, 1958. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
- ^ Maloney 1991, pp. 234–241, 246–247.
- ^ Maloney 1991, pp. 291–294.
- ^ Wald, Matthew L. (August 14, 2013). "Appeals Court Blocks Attempt by Vermont to Close a Nuclear Plant". New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ^ Abel, David; Ailworth, Erin (August 28, 2013). "Vermont nuclear power plant to close in 2014 – Energy prices spell the end". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
References
- Byrne, John; Hoffman, Steven M. (1996). Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. OCLC 34321338.
- Calder, Ritchie (17 October 1953). "Cost of Atomic Secrecy: Anglo-US Rivalry". ISSN 0027-8378.
- Canleton, Philip L.; Hewlett, Richard G.; Williams, Robert C., eds. (1991). The American Atom: A Documentary History of Nuclear Policies from the Discovery of Fission to the Present. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1354-6.
- OCLC 637004643. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
- OCLC 82275622. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- Gott, Richard (April 1963). "The Evolution of the Independent British Deterrent". International Affairs. 39 (2): 238–252. JSTOR 2611300.
- Jones, Vincent (1985). Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. OCLC 10913875. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
- Maloney, Sean M. (1991). Securing Command of the Sea: NATO Naval Planning, 1948–1954 (Ph.D.). University of New Brunswick.
- Miller, Byron S. (1948). "A Law Is Passed: The Atomic Energy Act of 1946". JSTOR 1597968.
- ISSN 0270-5192. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- Ruebhausen, Oscar M; von Mehren, Robert B. (June 1953). "The Atomic Energy Act and the Private Production of Atomic Power". JSTOR 1336868.
- ISSN 1873-6777.
External links
- Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended (PDF/details) in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
- Text of the passed McMahon Act (PDF, scanned from the Congressional Record)
- Text of the submitted McMahon Bill (pp. 77–90)