ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) reactor licensing procedures more fully, in order to shows how their promotional bias became the cause for public concern and cast a shadow of doubt on the integrity of the regulatory process itself. It demonstrates that the perfunctory nature of public participation in the AEC's licensing and regulation process. The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) subcommittee report is always in the form of a letter to the Chairman of the AEC and states the opinion of the ACRS regarding the construction of the reactor at the proposed site. The board members were to be selected from both within the AEC and from the private sector, and included biologists, lawyers, nuclear physicists, and health officials. Perhaps most important in heightening citizen participation were the AEC's hefty power projections, particularly the anticipated role of nuclear power in the United States energy mix for the remainder of the century.
