Atomic Energy Commission

American  

noun

1. a former federal agency (1946–75) created to regulate the development of the U.S. atomic energy program: functions transferred to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. AEC

---

Atomic Energy Commission British  

noun

1.  AEC.  (in the US) a federal board established in 1946 to administer and develop domestic atomic energy programmes

---

Atomic Energy Commission Cultural  

1. An agency of the United States government from 1946 to 1974 that was charged with controlling and developing the use of atomic energy for civilian and military purposes. In 1974, the AEC was abolished, and its duties were divided between two new agencies: the Energy Research and Development Administration (now a part of the Department of Energy) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

---

Example Sentences

The war wasn’t long over before Truman supported legislation establishing the Atomic Energy Commission to regulate nuclear technology, swallow the Manhattan Project infrastructure and take custody of America’s modest atomic arsenal.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

When he was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis Strauss — the Robert Downey Jr. character in “Oppenheimer” — predicted in 1954 that our children would enjoy nuclear power “too cheap to meter.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2025

The United States Atomic Energy Commission, the predecessor to the NRC, did license other types of designs.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 13, 2023

She spoke out against investigations against her fellow scientists during the wave of McCarthyism that spread across the US, and she even wrote to the Atomic Energy Commission to complain about the proceedings.

From Scientific American • Aug. 24, 2023

Civilian supervision was vested in an Atomic Energy Commission comprising five presidential appointees.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik