Materials Accountancy: The Formative Years

In 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. Congressquickly crafted the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. The Act chargedthe Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), successor to the Corps ofEngineers Manhattan Project, with the production of nuclearweapons and the nuclear materials needed for them in the quantitiesauthorized annually by the president of the United States.(As a practical matter, the AEC prepared estimates of productioncapabilities, and the president authorized production at thatlevel.) Pursuant to that Act, all nuclear materials, feed or product,were owned by the U.S. government, with production actuallyoccurring in government-owned, contractor-operated(GOCO) facilities.