If some thought has been given to it, I would like to have it and I am sure the members of the committee would.

Commissioner Graham replied as follows:

Mr. Chairman, I am sure all of us think about it from time to time. I believe you are forecasting, as you have done before in so many instances, that this time will come. I would not be prepared to say to you today that it is here.

But to repeat, it is something that is in our minds just as it is in yours. I think sometimes it is something that your committee and your staff and the rest of us should take another look at. You have not looked at it for, I believe, 2 years.

In April 1960, during the annual hearings on indemnity and reactor safety, three proposed amendments to AEC regulations were discussed. Near the end of the hearing, AEC Chairman McCone, after discussing the safety responsibilities of the Commission and the ACRS, spoke of some "problems" as follows:

This sometimes presents us with a problem. But a greater problem is the fact that this is a growing field. It is a field in which the health and safety of more and more people are being affected. There are more projects. If we are successful in our efforts to reduce the cost of nuclear power, there will be an increasing number of projects to deal with.

Therefore, it appears to me that in spite of the diligent work on the part of the ACRS and the hard work on the part of the staff that the time is approaching when we must reconsider the organization of this matter of the question of health and safety in connection with all matters of this type, most particularly the licensing of power reactors.

After stating that he was satisfied that "in the very near future we can improve our requirements or our site criteria" to better inform prospective builders, and that he was concerned about the workload on the ACRS, Mr. McCone said:

What we propose to do is this: Over the next several months we are going to carry on a concerted study of this whole question of licensing, of the discharge of the Commission's responsibilities in this field. This study will be made by the staff of the Atomic Energy Commission and members of the ACRS. I would hope out of that study we could come before you with some recommendations for improvements in the organization.

Whether this will involve a separation of the functions of promotion and administration on the one hand, and licensing on the other, I do not know. But as you gentlemen know, in other areas, such as the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Maritime Administration, and so forth, there came a time when it seemed desirable to separate the regulatory and the administrative functions.

I am not here to say that we are at that point in this field, but we are at a point where we must improve our machinery for doing this job.

Congressman Holifield, the chairman of the subcommittee hearing, replied:

You may or may not know that in 1956 at my request the Chairman instructed Mr. Ramey and Mr. Toll to make a study of this whole problem of divorcement of the licensing and regulatory functions from the promotional function. Our staff is studying now to bring our 1956-57 study up to date. We recognize that this problem exists.

I am glad to note that you are aware that it is becoming heavier and you are concerned with it, too. I think sooner or later there has to be some solution to this problem. I think that solution has to be made in the public interest and it has to be made in such a way that the Commission itself is not continually placed under the criticism of confusing its safety regulations with its promotional objectives, both of which are valid and both of which are necessary.

I am hoping that something can be suggested to us that will solve this problem.

Chairman Anderson, after preliminary staff discussions, wrote to Mr. McCone on August 29, 1960, stating that the JCAE staff study had been initiated, and that it would update the 1956-57 study and would "also analyze a number of current problems and possible organizational arrangements." By letter dated September 10, 1960, Mr. McCone replied, stating that the AEC staff would cooperate with the JCAE staff in the study.

Thus in the summer of 1960 the Joint Committee and the AEC both commenced separate staff studies of the AEC regulatory process. These studies have proceeded in parallel, and the AEC staff completed in November a document entitled "The Regulatory Program of the Atomic Energy Commission," reprinted in volume II at pages 87 to 393. The preface stated that the AEC report was "factual only and was not prepared in any attempt to prove or disprove any hypothesis." The AEC report furnishes important background data which have been utilized in preparing this study, and to which reference will be made from time to time. In February 1961 the AEC submitted a supplementary document containing recommendations for improving the regulatory process. Entitled "A Report on the Regulatory Program of the AEC," this document is reproduced in its entirety in volume II at pages 395 to 422.

SCOPE OF THIS STUDY

This study, as explained heretofore, brings abreast of current developments an earlier staff study published as a Joint Committee print in 1957 and entitled "A Study of AEC Procedures and Organization in the Licensing of Reactor Facilities." The study also considers problems engendered by the mixture of promotional and regulatory functions within the Commission in the light of experience since 1957. The staff has concerned itself only incidentally with the AEC's internal procedures for the processing of papers and the problem of coordination in the Office of the General Manager. Consideration has been given to the problems of overall Federal radiation policy and relations with State and local governments only as they relate to the evolving role of the AEC and the proposals advanced in this study.

FUNCTIONS OF AEC

The United States has multiple national objectives in the atomic energy field including maintenance of the common defense and security, development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy, and protection of the public health and safety.

Congress has, to date, placed primary governmental responsibility for achievement of these objectives in one governmental agency: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Thus the Commission has operational functions: to procure raw materials, produce fissionable materials, manufacture nuclear weapons, and perform research and development; promotional functions: to develop, through research and assistance, the peaceful uses of atomic energy, particularly nuclear reactors and radioisotopes; and regulatory functions: to assure the safe possession and use of nuclear facilities and materials, and to protect the public from potential radiation and related hazards.

Of these three, the regulatory is a comparatively new, but gradually growing, function. For example, the number of active power reactor cases (including both privately and Government owned) has increased from 0 in 1955, to 6 by the end of 1958, and 13 by the end of 1960. Three private test reactors are under construction or in operation, each presenting significant regulatory problems. The number of research reactor construction permittees and licensees has increased from 6 in 1955, to 41 by the end of 1958, and 61 by the end of 1960.

Although the number of research reactors is larger, the power and test reactors present greater potential hazards, and require more thorough safety review and AEC staff effort. The task of regulating large power and test reactors is also complicated by the fact that novel technological problems are usually posed by each new reactor, and that a typical reactor costs from $20 to $100 million, and takes several years to design and build.

The AEC regulatory responsibility is not finished when the operat ing license for a facility issues. The licensee may, and during the current developmental period probably will, request changes in design, fuel loadings, or operating procedures, thereby raising safety questions.

In the materials licensing field, the regulatory workload has similarly increased. Byproduct (radioisotope) material licenses have increased from 3,016 in 1955 to 5,798 by mid-1960, and special nuclear material licenses from 7 in 1955 to approximately 350 at the present time. (Source material licenses have decreased from 1,763 în 1955 to 1,149 by September 30, 1960, presumably because of the decreasing incentives for exploration in the raw materials program.)

To handle the increasing number of applications, the AEC licensing division personnel have increased from about 49 in 1955 to about 105 by the end of 1960. There has been a corresponding increase in inspection personnel.

The number of AEC licenses, however, in comparison with those issued by many other Federal agencies, is not large. But, because of the magnitude of the potential hazard, a sizable staff relative to the number of licenses is required for effective review of individual applications.

AEC has safety responsibilities for materials and facilities used and owned by Federal, State, and local governments, as well as by private industry. For example, AEC owns and operates huge production reactors at Hanford and Savannah River; experimental reactors at Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Argonne, and Idaho;s weapons laboratories at Los Alamos and Livermore; and research facilities at Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, Argonne, and elsewhere. The waste-disposal tanks at Hanford contain many times more dangerous radioactive materials

Of the AEC's total operating and construction expenditures of $2,660,000,000 for fiscal year 1961, approximately $2,500,000, or less than one-tenth of 1 percent, is devoted to the regulatory program. The approximate budgetary breakdowns for fiscal year 1961 are as follows: Raw materials, $629,900,000; special nuclear materials, $569,168,000; weapons, $524,000,000; reactor development, $437,950,000; physical research, $163,782,000; biology and medicine, $59,200,000; training, education and information, $14,530,000; civilian applications of isotopes and nuclear explosives, $10,780,000; communities, $9,707,000; program direction and administration, $57,755,000; and construction, $245,000,000.

On January 3, 1961, a nuclear incident, fatal to three persons, occurred at the SL-1 Direct Cycle Boiling Water Reactor located at Idaho Falls. Although there was extensive damage to the reactor, its final disposition is, at this writing, unknown.

than any other location in the country. AEC must review safety aspects of its own operations and concur on safety standards of Department of Defense reactors and weapons. Other Federal agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for nuclear propelled rockets and satellites, and the Maritime Administration for nuclear ships, and State and local agencies, must obtain licenses from AEC for use of the materials and facilities defined in the act.

AEC thus has responsibility for safe operation of reactors owned by AEC and most other Federal agencies, as well as privately owned

reactors.

Finally, AEC carries out a reactor safety research program, currently at an expenditure rate of approximately $10 million per year. The Division of Reactor Development has responsibility for financing and directing this program.

STATUTORY PROVISIONS AND AEC REGULATIONS

The principal chapters and sections of the Atomic Energy Act which affect the AEC regulatory process are as follows:

Chapter 1, which makes certain declarations and findings, and sets forth the purposes of the act;

Chapter 2, section 11, of the act, in which certain terms are defined, including "byproduct material," "source material," "special nuclear material," "production facility," and "utilization facility," which are the materials and facilities AEC is given authority to regulate; *

Chapter 3, which establishes the AEC, prescribes the overall organization, and establishes the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS);

Chapters 6, 7, and 8, which contain provisions for the licensing by AEC of special nuclear material, source material, and byproduct material, respectively;

Chapter 10, which contains provisions authorizing the licensing of nuclear facilities, including reactors;

Chapter 14, especially section 161, which provides authority for AEC to adopt standards and promulgate regulations;

Chapter 16, which contains general provisions on applications, construction permits, operating licenses, notice, public hearings, and judicial review;

Chapter 18, concerning enforcement, which provides certain penalties in the event of violation of other provisions of the act, including those on licensing; and

For the benefit of those not familiar with the act, and without repeating verbatim the provisions of the statute, these materials and facilities can be generally described as follows:

Byproduct material: Includes reactor produced radioisotopes, used in a wide variety of industrial, medical, research, and other civilian applications.

Source material: Any material, except fissionable material, containing by weight 0.05 percent or more of uranium, thorium, or any combination thereof.

Special nuclear material: Plutonium, uranium 233, uranium enriched in the isotope 233, and uranium enriched in the isotope 235.

Production facility: Nuclear reactors designed or used primarily for the production of special nuclear material; also facilities used for separation of isotopes of uranium or plutonium; e.g., gaseous diffusion plants and centrifuges; also facilities used for the processing of irradiated materials containing special nuclear material; e.g., plants for the reprocessing of spent fuel elements.

Utilization facility: A nuclear reactor other than one designed for the production of special nuclear material, e.g., power reactors, research reactors, test reactors.

Chapter 19, containing miscellaneous provisions, especially the newly enacted section 274 authorizing transfer of regulatory authority over certain materials by AEC to qualified States.

Acting under authority of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, AEC has promulgated regulations which affect the regulatory process. These are collected in chapter 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations and include, among others, Part 2 (Rules of Practice), Part 20 (Standards for Protection Against Radiation), and Part 50 (Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities).

Extracts of individual sections of the act and AEC regulations affecting the regulatory process may be found in volume II at pages 1-24 and 28-82.

THE THREE-PART AEC REGULATORY PROCESS

The Atomic Energy Act, and the implementing regulations, thus place upon AEC important responsibilities for protecting the public health and safety from the hazards associated with the materials and facilities defined in the act. AEC must regulate these materials and facilities to prevent overexposure of employees and the public, during normal operation, and must also guard against the possibility of an accident, particularly at a major power or test reactor facility, which could injure many persons and cause large-scale property damage.

In order to regulate normal operation and to prevent a serious accident, a three-part system is contemplated by the act: (1) establishment of radiation protection standards; (2) licensing of facilities and materials; and (3) inspection and enforcement.

The first part, establishment of radiation protection standards, is the cornerstone of normal operating procedures.

These standards, while recognizing that an increase in total radiation exposure is one of the inevitable consequences of developing atomic energy, prescribe maximum permissible radiation doses and concentrations of radioactivity to which employees in radiation industries, and members of the general public, may be exposed. In the past these standards have been based upon the recommendations of the National Committee on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP), a semi-private scientific organization. More recently, AEC standards also take into account the "guides" prescribed by the Federal Radiation Council, established in 1959 as a governmental policy and coordinating body.

Having established limits of exposure, the Commission, as a second part of the process, licenses nuclear facilities and materials, and individual operators of reactors. The act and regulations prohibit possession and use of the nuclear materials defined in the act, and construction and operation of nuclear facilities, without a license from the Commission. A person desiring to use such materials or to construct a reactor must first submit an application to the Commission. The AEC staff then evaluates safety questions and other aspects, as described later in this study. The main purpose of this prelicensing evaluation is to determine whether the applicant's proposed activities comply with the radiation protection standards. For materials which present less serious hazards, the Commission may issue general licenses. These are blanket authorizations permitting any person to