Back هيئة الطاقة الذرية الأمريكية Arabic Камісія па атамнай энергіі ЗША Byelorussian Comissió de l'Energia Atòmica dels Estats Units Catalan United States Atomic Energy Commission German Επιτροπή Ατομικής Ενέργειας των ΗΠΑ Greek Usona Atomenergia Komisiono Esperanto Comisión de Energía Atómica de los Estados Unidos Spanish کمیسیون انرژی اتمی ایالات متحده آمریکا Persian Yhdysvaltain atomienergiakomissio Finnish Commission de l'énergie atomique des États-Unis French
 Seal of the AEC | |
| Independent agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1946 |
| Dissolved | 1975 |
| Superseding Independent agency | |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. (1947–1957) Germantown, Maryland (1958–1975)[1] |
The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by the U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology.[2] President Harry S. Truman signed the McMahon/Atomic Energy Act on August 1, 1946, transferring the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands, effective on January 1, 1947.[3] This shift gave the members of the AEC complete control of the plants, laboratories, equipment, and personnel assembled during the war to produce the atomic bomb.[4]
An increasing number of critics during the 1960s charged that the AEC's regulations were insufficiently rigorous in several important areas, including radiation protection standards, nuclear reactor safety, plant siting, and environmental protection.
By 1974, the AEC's regulatory programs had come under such strong attack that the U.S. Congress decided to abolish the AEC. The AEC was abolished by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, which assigned its functions to two new agencies: the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.[5] On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Department of Energy Organization Act, which created the Department of Energy. The new agency assumed the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration (FEA), the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the Federal Power Commission (FPC), and various other federal agencies.
- ^ "U.S. Department of Energy: Germantown Site History". United States Department of Energy. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ^ Niehoff, Richard (1948). "Organization and Administration of the United States Atomic Energy Commission". Public Administration Review. 8 (2): 91–102. doi:10.2307/972379. JSTOR 972379.
- ^ Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (Pub. L. 79–585, 60 Stat. 755, enacted August 1, 1946)
- ^ Hewlett, Richard G. & Oscar E. Anderson (1962). A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
- ^ "Atomic Energy Commission". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2009-11-16.