The peculiar politics of nuclear power.

The article discusses the political factors that acted as an obstacle for nuclear power from becoming a predominant source of electricity in the U.S. The entire atomic energy program was dominated from 1947 until the mid-1970s by the powerful Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, which operated symbiotically with the Atomic Energy Commission. The Joint Committee was very aggressive and expansionist, and exercised its power largely through extra-legislative means. Many basic decisions regarding atomic energy were made behind closed doors and then announced to public. As a result of this political environment, there is no legislation that states national policy commitment to nuclear power as the principal source of electric power in the future.