Department of Energy 1977--1994: A summary history

Abstract

The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 created perhaps the most interesting and diverse agency in the Federal Government. The new department brought together for the first time not only most of the government`s energy programs but also defense responsibilities that included the design, construction, and testing of nuclear weapons. The Department of Energy incorporated a score of organizational entities from a dozen departments and agencies, each with its own history and traditions. Uniting these seemingly disparate entities and programs was a common commitment to performing first rate science and technology. The Department of Energy sought--and continues to seek--to be one of the Nation`s premier science and technology organizations. The Department of Energy, 1977--1994, is a summary history of the origins, goals, and achievements of the Department and selected major programs. Beginning with the various fuels policies on the energy side and the Manhattan project on the defense side, the study details how the Department was born of the energy crisis of the early and mid-1970s. The history then surveys the Department and its programs from the Carter through the Clinton administrations. As the energy crisis eased, the Department played a central role on issues as dissimilar as the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Superconducting Super Collider. With the end of the Cold War, the Department of Energy further transformed itself, moving from the building of bombs to partial dismantlement of the nuclear weapons complex and to an increased emphasis on environmental activities and technology transfer efforts.

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