History of Technology Policy—Commercial Nuclear Power

Abstract

The present paper describes the rise and fall of nuclear power as a case history of a U.S. technology policy. The case history is relevant to the recent revival of discussions on national technology policies. Such policies, sometimes called industrial policies, bestow incentives and protection on a nation's favored industries in order to improve their international competitive positions. Economists cite the industrial policies of Japan and Korea as one of the reasons for the strong international competitiveness of their automotive and electronics industries. The history of U.S. commercial nuclear power provides a case study on the extent to which U.S. government policies have been able to steer technological development to support national and international objectives. U.S. utilities ordered 218 nuclear power plants after President Eisenhower implemented his “Atoms for Peace” policy starting in 1953. They canceled 102 of them after 1975 when President Carter reversed the policy in order to set a nuclear nonproliferation example for the rest of the world, The canceled plants cost shareholders and ratepayers approximently $74 billion.