Breeder Reactors and the National Environmental Policy Act

Abstract

meltdown at an experimental breeder reactor outside Detroit brought officials close to calling for the evacuation of the city's 1.5 million inhabitants. An Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) projection of damages from a nuclear accident at a hypothetical small nuclear power plant 30 miles from a city smaller than Detroit included 3,400 people killed and $7 billion in property damages. A subsequent report updating the projections has been suppressed. Congress, under heavy pressure from utilities and insurers, has passed the Price-Anderson Act limiting federal liability in the event of such an accident to $5 60 million.