ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the regulatory process, emphasizing that it is a distinctly social enterprise, directed by individuals who attempt to mold and shape certain of society's activities. The regulatory structure of nuclear energy was created by the scientists, statesmen, politicians, educators, journalists, administrators, and others who testified before Senator Brien McMahon's congressional committee hearings in 1945 and 1946. The nuclear power issue is essentially a moral issue, not a technical one. The differences between the old and new regulations are more than a disagreement about effective use of nuclear power. Instead, these differences indicate significant social conflict, for the issues raised transcend a narrow interest group view of "who gets what" in society and derive from the clash of different cultural values, ideologies, and world views. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must expand social and political interaction between contesting parties through formal participatory mechanisms for negotiation, compromise of principles, clarification of conflicting data, and harmonizing of actions.
