EXPERT VOICES: THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CALVERT CLIFFS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Abstract

The development and construction of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant was a watershed moment in both science and environmental history. Scientists’ authority, and scientific knowledge, was both an important and contested part of the development of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The role of science in public policy, the environmental movement, and society changed, throughout the development of the power plant, as it failed to provide the answers to ethical questions about environmental degradation and conservation the age of nuclear energy.