re posted from AMERICAN SYSTEM NOW
President Kennedy : Nuclear Power Visionary
By Nancy Spannaus
May 29, 2021—
”By 1967, 1968, 1970, in the Northeast United States, where power rates are nearly double yours, we are going to find atomic power increasingly competitive, and by the end of this century this is going to be a tremendous source. Our experts estimate that half of all electric energy generated in the United States will come from nuclear sources.”
That’s President John Kennedy speaking at the launching of the first civilian nuclear plant at Hanford, Washington on September 26, 1963. The President had just embarked on a “Conservation tour” of the country, in line with his firm belief that Americans had an obligation not only to protect the natural environment, but to use science and technology such as atomic power to improve that environment for the sake of future generations. That made him a nuclear power visionary.
At the time Kennedy spoke, his administration was working on a perspective for rapid development of nuclear power production, both for electricity and for such vitally needed functions as water desalination. In March of 1962 the President had charged the Atomic Energy Commission with the task of doing an extensive review of the role that civilian nuclear power was playing, and could play, in the U.S. economy. The result was a 76-page report issued in November of that year.
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