Environmental factors like those we have been discussing are but some of the considerations involved in the siting and operation of steam electric power plants. That brings me back to the fact that what we are really facing is not only an environmental crisis but also an energy crisis, and that we must achieve a balance between meeting energy needs and protecting the environment. In order to do this, we need to develop some new or improved planning approaches.

In this connection, two years ago I suggested establishing a broadly based federal interdepartmental committee on electric power plant siting to develop a coordinated approach to the problems involved. The agen­cies in the federal government most deeply concerned cooperated with the Energy Policy Staff of the President’s Office of Science and Technology in acting on this suggestion. The initial result of this cooperative effort was a report which assembled in summary form the present knowledge of the public interest considerations that should play a role in planning to meet power needs (President’s Office of Science and Technology, 1969). The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the state utility commissions throughout the nation contributed importantly by co­operating in a survey of the work of the states on this problem. The group which prepared the siting report is continuing its efforts under the aegis of the recently formed President’s Environmental Quality Council. Meetings are being held with representatives of organizations interested in siting problems. These include the Citizens Advisory Committee on Environ­mental Quality, certain state and local governments with experience in such problems, and utility-industry organizations. Proposed legislation is being carefully examined, and recommendations on legislative action will be made as appropriate. Finally, a study is in progress which will identify pertinent ideas for research and development that are not currently in­cluded in the plans of involved governmental agencies, the utilities, and industry.

At the regional, state, and local level, probably the best planning mechanisms that can be provided in the near future are the regional power supply councils established voluntarily in cooperation with the Federal Power Commission. These councils should be expanded and upgraded to include consideration of environmental matters, and include consultations with conservationists and other groups concerned with environmental matters. The councils should also provide for public members and be open to representatives of the small and publicly owned utilities. There is also a continuing need for an interaction between the planning mechanism and research and development efforts related to environmental problems.

On its part, the aec is developing an environmental safety research program plan in cooperation with industry, the university community, and our national laboratories. Such a plan will facilitate improved coordin­ation of our work on environmental problems with efforts of industry and others working on them. In addition to these efforts, members of the Com­mission have been speaking out to provide the facts on the environmental effects of producing electric power (Seaborg, May 5 and September 11, 1969; Ramey, June 2, July 28, and September 11,1969).

Conclusion

We of the aec believe the story of nuclear power is a good one. The program is sound; it is positive; and it will stand up under the most search­ing review. Nuclear power has two great potentials: providing a virtually inexhaustible resource of energy for many applications in succeeding gen­erations, and providing large quantities of pure water from the sea at reasonable cost for domestic and industrial use, and ultimately for agri­cultural purposes.

We recognize that the achievement of these benefits will involve some risks. Although our experience provides us with a measure of sat­isfaction and confidence that the risks are now being minimized, we do not intend to lessen the emphasis on safety. Our responsibility is to con­tinue to foster the development of nuclear power in a manner consistent with public health and safety.

I believe that with proper planning our power needs and the environ­mental considerations associated with power production can be harmo­nized with minimum adverse effects. We can have both additional power and a healthy and desirable environment, and the public will benefit from such an achievement. In any consideration of environmental factors, I believe nuclear power should come out quite well, since it has substan­tially less effect on the overall environment than other sources of energy, especially in regard to smoke pollution.

The public also has a responsibility — a responsibility to study the facts and then to make judgments based on them. This is sometimes diffi­cult, because the concepts of nuclear energy are complex. The scientific community — in the universities, the laboratories, and industry — can and should play a larger and more responsible role in assisting the public in this regard.

Summary

After decades of apathy this nation is becoming properly concerned with the environmental crisis which it faces. However, in our new-found concern for the environment, we should not overlook another crisis which is almost upon us — that of meeting this nation’s accelerating need for en­ergy.

The consumption of electricity alone is expected to increase three­fold in the next 20 years and sixfold by the end of the century. More gen­erating plants must be built, and we have no choice but to rely almost en­tirely on steam electric plants. Yet, the construction of additional power plants, fossil and nuclear, is encountering increasing opposition on en­vironmental grounds in many areas of the country.

I believe we can have both the additional electrical energy needed and a healthy and desirable environment. To do so we must consider both the benefits and risks involved; and we must do this in an orderly way, early in the planning process, to avoid conflicts and crises at the later stages.

The benefits of nuclear power are great in terms of low cost, preser­vation of the environment, and conservation of resources; but their achievement, as in all new or existing technologies, involves accepting certain risks. These risks are small, since the development of the nuclear industry has been one of the first deliberate attempts by government and industry to understand and control the risks of an emerging large-scale technology. Through use of nationally and internationally recognized ra­diation protection standards, and a “defense-in-depth” concept of reactor safety, the United States atomic energy program has a record as one of the safest of industries, from the standpoint of radiation hazards as well as of ordinary industrial risks. For example, radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants are so minimal as to constitute an almost unmeas­urable fraction of the level of radioactivity permitted by established radia­tion standards.

Although experience with the many power plants now in operation provides the aec with a measure of satisfaction and confidence that the risks are now being minimized, we do not intend to lessen the emphasis on safety. Our responsibility is to continue to foster the development of nuclear power in a manner consistent with public health and safety.