Evening star., 1953-04-19
Free Enterprise and the Atom

The Joint Congressional Committee on
Atomic Energy will soon have before it far
reaching set of policy proposals aimed at
speeding up the day when the atom will be
harneSSed as large-Scale source of peacetime
power. In effect, if adopted, the proposals will
bring to an end what has thus far been the
tighteSt governmental monopoly in our history
necessarily so.
Drafted over a period of several months
by the Atomic Energy Commission, the proposed
program has been based on years of careful
cooperative study by both the Acc and some
OF the Nations biggest utility companies What
the study has confirmed beyond reasonable
doubt, is that the atom eventually will be able
to compete on at least equal terms with coal,
oil, gas and falling water as major producer
Of industrial power. How soon that time will
come remains uncertain, but more than a few
experts believe that the prospect will begin to
materialize in 1860 If private enterprise is
given sufficient freedom, meanwhile, to under
take serious operations in this potentially revo-
lutionary field.
Such freedom does not now exist It is
expressly ruled out by the law enacted by
Congress in 1896 However, that law also pro-
vides that the Atomic Energy Commission
should consult with the President on the pos
Sibility of ending our governmental monopoly
If developments reach a point where private
enterprise seems capable of producing nuclear
power for industrial purposes on an economi-
cally feasible basis and without danger to the
Nations security. Accordingly, in keeping with
this provision and because private enterprise
apparently has the necessary capability, the
AEC-supported by the White House-has
formulated proposals envisioning legislative
changes to eliminate or greatly modify some of
flon af ro+i0
Although the Aces program has not been
made public as yet, its main reported points
suggest that Congress should seriously con-
slider amending the 1946 law to permit private
enterprise to do the following: Cd Operate it's
own plants under Federal license, with critical
or overcritical quantities of fashionable ma
terialS-that is, quantities large enough for
Superdeadly A-weaponS; (2) produce, through
the use of dual-purpoSe reactorS, not only in
duStrial power, but also plutonium; 90 sell the
plutonium to the Government at a certain
guaranteed price; and a. acquire patent
rights to any special processes it develops.
Even a cursory glance at these proposals
makes clear that they are not likely to be
adopted without the fullest and most searching
study Members of the Joint Atomic Committee
have wisely taken cautious view of them, and
the Acc itself-in its January report to Con-
sftnS-tldS USeH dg pains W eIlIplIdSlIe ClldC LLe
considerations involved are many and complex,
raising unique and difficult problems bearing
upon such matters as deciding on ownership
of plants, defining licensing procedures, ar
ranging for non-governmental use and produc-
tion of extraordinarily dangerous materials,
maintaining adequate secrecy, agreeing on
patents rights, protecting public safety and
fixing liability in case of disaster.
These problems, however, are by no means
insoluble. Formidable as they are there can
be no doubt that ways will be found to cope
with them satisfactorily and that our private
industry will be operating, in due course, in the
field of nuclear energy. The Aces proposals
are in line, in any case with the logic of de-
velopments in a Nation whose greatness has
come primarily from free enterprise. That
enterprise. working with the atom, can add
much to American strength. Beyond that, it
can open up bright new vistas for areas of the
world that are backward largely because they
lack coal and other sources of power essential
to human betterment.