FOR IRRADIATION TESTING HEARING BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON ATOMIC ENERGY EIGHTY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON ENRICO FERMI REACTOR: USE FOR IRRADIATION TESTING AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION 62-512 APRIL 5, 1966 Printed for the use of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office JOINT COMMITTEE ON ATOMIC ENERGY CHET HOLIFIELD, California, Chairman JOHN O. PASTORE, Rhode Island, Vice Chairman MELVIN PRICE, Illinois WAYNE N. ASPINALL, Colorado CRAIG HOSMER, California RICHARD B. RUSSELL, Georgia HENRY M. JACKSON, Washington BOURKE B. HICKENLOOPER, Iowa GEORGE D. AIKEN, Vermont JOHN T. CONWAY, Executive Director WILLIAM T. ENGLAND, Professional Staff Member п FOREWORD On April 5, 1966, the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy convened to receive testimony from representatives of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Power Reactor Development Co. concerning a proposed contract involving use by the AEC of the Enrico Fermi reactor for irradiation services. The record of that proceeding is set forth within. In addition to materials directly pertinent to this hearing, the committee has included in the appendix section of this print numerous background documents pertaining to the licensing of the Fermi reactor which are no longer readily available. The Fermi reactor was, and is, unique in many respects. Not the least among them is the fact that PRDC's application to construct Fermi-the world's first large-scale breeder reactor, and the largest in existence today-was the first to be actively opposed in an administrative proceeding before the Commission. The AEC's contested decision in that case was followed by another first for the Commission's regulatory program-judicial review by the Federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Further, the Commission's treatment of the case at the administrative level led to congressional review of its procedures in licensing nuclear reactors and to eventual amendment of several sections of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 dealing with the licensing process. As a result of the foregoing, the case history of the Enrico Fermi reactor has been a continuing source of interest to students of the atomic energy program generally, and of political science and the law, among others. With the passage of time, however, the relevant background documents have become increasingly difficult to obtain. Moreover, until now there has been no single source document to which interested persons could turn to find these various materials. By combining in this print many of the documents relating to the licensing of the Fermi reactor it is the committee's hope that both of these deficiencies will be corrected. CHET HOLIFIELD, Chairman, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. JOHN O. PASTORE, |