©2025 League of Conservation Voters
1976 Scorecard Vote
238
140
53
Issues
Energy Research and Development Administration Authorizations (HR 13350). The vote is on whether or not to substitute the weak Anderson amendment for the stronger Fraser amendment. The Fraser amendment would have required the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conclude that the Clinch River demonstration breeder reactor was safe before construction could begin, whereas Anderson’s amendment did not require any safety findings until the reactor was finished and in need of a license to operate. By that time, the NRC, which has never refused to license a completed plant, would be under considerable financial pressure to allow the reactor to operate. The first attempt to operate a breeder–the Fermi reactor–had to be stopped because the reactor suffered a partial core meltdown and nearly exploded. Environmentalists contend that the public has a right to know before construction that the breeder has been designed safely. May 20, 1976. Adopted 238-140. “NO” is the correct vote.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters