Thomas R. Wellock. Safe Enough? A History of Nuclear Power and Accident Risk.

Abstract

In the early years of nuclear reactors, the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) struggled to identify priorities in design, balancing internal expertise with the advice of manufacturers such as General Electric and Westinghouse. A dizzying array of designs emerged, with differences in fuel source, coolant, moderator, and much else. Which was the safest? The answer was as clear as mud, and the AEC did little to impose standards of safety, often bowing to industry preferences. Few in the 1950s and 1960s wished to hamper the development of nuclear power—after all, the AEC was supposed to promote the atom not constrain it. Eventually the federal government tried to rectify this conflict of interest, first creating an office of safety research with the AEC, then creating a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1974. What remained of the AEC was folded into the new Department of Energy in 1977. But even then, neither the nuclear industry nor the government regulators ever reached a consensus about what was safe.