Primary Sources: Energy: Nuclear

Find a variety of documents, publications, news and other informational sources.

"The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy existed from 1946-1977. The committee was created to "make continuing studies of the activities of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and of problems relating to the development, use, and control of atomic energy." Through hearings and other public informational activities, the committee played a significant role in encouraging peacetime uses of atomic energy. The committee dealt with such subjects as the budget authorization bills for the Atomic Energy Commission, international agreements regarding atomic energy stemming from President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms-For-Peace" speech of December 1953, and various mutual defense agreements. Examples of other matters the Committee covered include: developments at the national energy labs; health impacts of nuclear energy; nuclear waste-management; etc. "

"Produced in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident by Westinghouse Nuclear Energy Systems, "The Nuclear Look" promotes the nuclear power industry as a safe and efficient component of infrastructure with a bright place in America's future. Some of America's oldest nuclear power plants are shown in the film including Connecticut Yankee and Shippingport, as proof that nuclear power can be viable."

An episode of the TV show Frontline which includes interviews and related links as well as other information.

Includes a variety of information including documents, speeches, news, etc.

"NRC releases several hundred documents to the public each work day. The Web site contains information and the documents that are most pertinent to NRC regulatory activities. Many of the documents are in Basic References or Document Collections. The rest are available either from our record retrieval system, ADAMS, or from our Public Document Room. Documents posted at the Web site are also retrievable from ADAMS. The reference librarians at our Public Document Room can help you find a document in ADAMS or on the Web site."

"The Atomic Energy Act of 1946, known informally as the McMahon Act, established the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) as a federal institution to have total control of developments in the field of atomic energy. To replace the predominate image of atomic weapons as destructive, the AEC began a public relations campaign to show the atom’s positive side. Hopes for a utopian society with atomic-powered cars and airplanes had died down by the late 1940s. But the promise of atomic energy for medical research, diagnosis, and treatment and for preventing starvation through duplicating photosynthesis remained. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a revision to the McMahon Act opening development to private industry. In the following article from the popular magazine Look published a year later, David O. Woodbury reprised the “utopian promise” rhetoric of the late 1940s, as he discussed the potential of radioisotopes for health, food production, and industry, as well as the production of electric power through atomic energy. The first nuclear power plant began operation in 1957 and facilities proliferated during the next two decades. Due to a drop in demand for electricity, a strong grassroots antinuclear movement concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste, and national anxiety after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, no new facilities were built after 1979 and many have been shut down. "