In the Conference Report (100-724) accompanying the fiscal 1989 appropriations bill for Energy and Water Development (H.R. 4567, Public Law 100-371), the U.S. Congress requested that the National Academy of Sciences conduct “. a critical comparative analysis of the practical technological and institutional options for future nuclear power development and for the formulation of coherent policy alternatives to guide the Nation's nuclear power development.” The Senate Appropriations Committee Report 100-381 entitled Energy and Water Development Appropriation Bill, 1989, which also accompanied the bill, noted:

The [Senate Committee on Appropriations] believes that nuclear fission remains an important option for meeting our electric energy requirements and maintaining a balanced national energy policy. The Committee continues to strongly support the need for a responsive nuclear fission program, but finds the current civilian nuclear power reactor program to be a deficient aggregate of numerous reactor types and conceptual variations being developed without the guidance of well-defined strategic objectives. The Committee finds further that the future development and institutionalization of nuclear power development should be rethought, newly defined, and directed to be responsive to current and projected conditions.

In response to the congressional request, the National Academy of Sciences formed the Committee on Future Nuclear Power Development under the Energy Engineering Board of the National Research Council. The Committee's formal Statement of Task appears below:

The committee will conduct a critical comparative analysis of the practical technological and institutional options for future nuclear power development and formulate coherent policy alternatives to guide the nation's nuclear power development. The Congressional intent in directing this study was that the future development and institutionalization of nuclear power development be rethought, newly defined, and directed to be responsive to current and projected conditions.

In conducting this critical comparative analysis, the committee will undertake the following tasks:

1. The committee will identify the full range of practical technological options for the next generation of civilian nuclear power reactors.

2. The committee will develop criteria to evaluate these options. These criteria should reflect the extent to which the technologies are likely to lend themselves to nuclear power plants that will exhibit characteristics such as the following:

Front Matter (R1-R18)

Summary (1-14)

1 Introduction (15-18)

2 The Institutional Framework (19-90)

3 Assessment of Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies (91-160)

4 Federal Research and Development Alternatives (161-179)

5 Conclusions and Recommendations (180-198)

Individual Views of Committee Members (199-202)

Appendix A Committee Meetings (203-208)

Appendix B Criteria Developed for the Comparative Analysis of Advanced Reactor Technologies (209-213)

List of Acronyms (214-216)