In August 1946 Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act. This act established the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which would control all the information, research, materials, facilities, and production relating to nuclear power. The AEC was made up of five civilians nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The commission replaced the War Department in overseeing both the peaceful and military uses of nuclear energy in the United States. In 1954 Congress revised the Atomic Energy Act to enable private power companies to own nuclear reactors for the production of electric power. The 1954 act also made it legal for the U.S. government to share information on atomic weapons with European allies and to share information on the use of atomic energy with peaceful nations. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, critics complained that the same agency created, expanded, and regulated the nuclear industry. The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 replaced the AEC with two agencies: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration. The U.S. government disbanded the latter when the Department of Energy was created in 1977.
