What is Project Independence? The sources and uses of energy in the United States have changed dramatically in the last several decades. As a result, in just one generation, we have shifted from a position of domestic energy abundance to a substantial and continually growing reliance on foreign energy sources. Project Independence is a wide-ranging program to evaluate this growing dependence on foreign sources of energy, and to develop positive programs to reduce our vulnerability to future oil cut-offs and price increases.

This report contains the final technical analysis of the Project Independence Interagency Nuclear Task Force chaired by the Atomic Energy Commission. The task force was formed in April 1974 to provide estimates for the Project Independence Blueprint of the potential production capabilities of the nuclear industry and the resources necessary to achieve these levels of production. The task force evaluated several alternative strategies which assumed various levels of potential production. The report is organized into three sections. The first two sections consists of the introduction and the findings of the Task Force. The third section consist of topical discussions of the major resources (e.g., financial investments, manpower, and materials and equipment) required to achieve the projected production levels as well as subjects associated with nuclear power generation (e.g., environmental effects, public acceptance, research and development).