Atomic Power

The policies of the Atomic Energy Commission don't even get a fair trial any more--so, at least, claimed Commissioner John McCone, who said that his proposals were attacked by Congressional Democrats before they had even heard them. But if such attacks are unfair, their foundation is at least understandable: despite his resignation, the image of ex-Commissioner Lewis Strauss still looms large in Congress's picture of the AEC.

Aside from the Dixon-Yates affair, the Commission made an unfortunate mark on two major fronts during Strauss's administration: it attempted to conceal the detection of a nuclear explosion so that its stand against banning tests would be stronger, and, so critics claimed, its stand on maximum "safe" radiation dosage was a reflection of AEC policy rather than the established facts. Both of these situations were a reflection of weaknesses in the commission's basic structure which desperately need correction.

It is therefore heartening that a committee to develop a health program for the atomic age has recommended that responsibility for establishing standards of radiation safety should be transfered to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The foundation of the recommendation lay in two points; both are worth noting:

First, the Committee felt that setting these standards was outside of the AEC's Authority as defined by the 1954 act which legalized civilian atomic power.

Second, the committee felt that the establishment and enforcement of regulations should not be put under the control of the same organization, whether the AEC or the HEW. They recommended that the power to establish standards should be vested in the long-standing National Committee on Radiation Protection.

The lesson is one which Congress might do well to apply to the entire AEC. Although the proposal that civilian radiation safety measures should be moved out of the Commission seems a minor one, it is actually a major step in the right direction. If adopted, the change would be a laudable step toward making the Atomic Energy Commission a responsible organization, rather than the present monopoly of fact-finding and decision-making power, which allows policy to determine what facts shall be considered instead of letting facts determine the policy.