Atomic Energy Commission

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established by act of the United States Congress in 1946. It originally had a dual function: to promote the development of nuclear power and to regulate the nuclear power industry.

These two functions were occasionally in conflict, however. Critics of the AEC claimed that the Commission sometimes failed to apply appropriate safety regulations, for example, because doing so would have proved burdensome to the industry and hindered its growth. In 1975, the AEC was dissolved. Its regulatory role was assigned to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its research and development role to the Energy Research and Development Administration.