Atomic Energy Commission
4
4.2
- proper noun
- US
:
Comisión de Energía Atómica
- The Atomic Energy Commission emerged as a way to create a separate government unit to manage atomic energy outside of the military.
- Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
Examples
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In April 1947, a former Wall Street banker, Admiral Lewis Strauss, became a member of the newly established Atomic Energy Commission.
Academic text (1996) -
Arnold Kramish was a physicist with the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission until 1951, then with the Rand Corp until 1969.
Academic text (1996) -
You were commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission?
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The DOE used to be the Atomic Energy Commission.
Blog text (26) -
In 1978, the Atomic Energy Commission invited the mayor of St. George to bring a bus full of people to the Nevada test site.
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Most research directors at DOE and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, usually stayed in the post for two or, at most, three years.
Academic text (1999) -
In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission, after lengthy hearings, voted not to renew Oppenheimer's security clearance.
Blog text (21) -
A year later, in 1946, he took a position with the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge, Tenn., where the uranium enrichment plants had been built for the Manhattan Project.
Academic text (2007) -
From 1945 to 1963 (the year the United States signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty permitting only underground detonations), the Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Defense exploded 216 nuclear devices in atmospheric and underwater environments.
Academic text (2016) -
In 1978, the Atomic Energy Commission invited the mayor of St. George to bring a bus full of people to the Nevada test site.
Synonyms
2
7.2
A United States government agency that developed and managed nuclear energy for peaceful use from 1946 to 1974
Surface Forms
Morphology
atomic + energy + commission
The meaning is directly compositional: 'atomic' (relating to nuclear), 'energy' (power), and 'commission' (a formal committee/agency) combine to denote an agency overseeing atomic energy. This follows a common noun-modifier + commission pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the basic meaning even if they don't know the historical details.
Etymology
Atomic Energy Commission was the name the United States government gave after World War II to an official group set up to control and guide the new power from atoms. Because commission names an official group and atomic energy means power from atoms, the name shows it was a government agency in charge of nuclear research and safety.