POLICY ALTERNATIVES

There are three major policy alternatives in the nuclear enriching area: maintain AEC control and operation, establish a government corporation, or attempt to promote a competitive private industry. In weighing each of these alternatives, the impact on national security, on costs of enriching, on progressivity of the industry, and on prices charged must be evaluated.

From a national security point of view, it is obvious that government control and operation whether under a government corporation or by continuing AEC operation would be the safest. Fewest people would need be given access to sensitive material. In fact if a viable competitive private industry is to be established, most if not all data on enrichment technology must be declassified. True free entry cannot be provided if AEC clearance is necessary to receive access to the technology.

Assuming a private industry would imply complete declassification of enrichment technology would this imply a significant reduction in national security? It is not obvious that it would. Even though centrifuges can be constructed on a considerably smaller scale than diffusion plants and even though they take significantly less power than diffusion plants, declassification of the technology does not imply that every country in the world has the