Domestic Nuclear Power Plant Licensing and Foreign Ownership and Control: Heating Up Cold War Policies
By: Lindsay Hall, Notes Editor Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA) during the Cold War political climate, and it reflects an ideology of American nuclear supremacy and fear of nuclear catastrophe at the hands of foreign entities. In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster,[1] and in light of the tensions over Iran’s nuclear capacity,[2] the safety and non-proliferation concerns behind the AEA remain relevant today. However, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is facing pressure from the…