Environment: Delaying Nuclear Power

To the dismay of environmentalists, the Atomic Energy Commission insisted for years that its jurisdiction covered only the design and the radiation dangers of nuclear power plants. Then six weeks ago, a federal court ruled that the National Environmental Policy Act required the Commission to consider the effect of such plants on the entire environment. That decision, coupled with the AEC's discovery of flaws in the standard emergency cooling system used by U.S. nuclear plants, will delay the operation of ten nearly completed nukes (nuclear plants), 52 others under construction and 31 on the drawing boards. Last week the AEC's new...