ATOMIC ENERGY: Ten Years of Growth

The Atomic Energy Commission celebrated its tenth anniversary this week by letting out a few of its secrets. The U.S. is spending $2 billion a year to run its nuclear plants and laboratories. AEC reported, as much as it cost the nation to develop and produce the original atom bomb. Its capital investment in nuclear sites and equipment has grown from $1.2 billion in 1947 to almost $7 billion today. Said the report: “The current program has attained its goal of geographic dispersion of vital components of the weapon ‘assembly line.'” To feed that hungry line, and to provide for tomorrow’s civil atom-power market, the U.S. has become “the world’s greatest producer of uranium with more than 1,000 mines now operating.”