the peak deliveries -- but something to survive on while awaiting the development of a civilian demand. It was a waiting game, and in 1962 it looked like a long wait, for the AEC forecast put out at that time indicated that the installed nuclear power capacity would reach only 5, 000 megawatts in 1970 and would rise to 40, 000 in 1980. This posed the unhappy prospect that after 18 years the uranium industry could look forward to operating at 50% of its installed capacity, and this was not exactly what even the most lenient would define as a growth industry. But the AEC, along with the rest of us, underestimated the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and determination of the nuclear reactor manufacturers and their ability and willingness to make electric power generated with nuclear energy quickly competitive with the more conventional sources of energy. Both the utility companies and the manufacturers were excited by the ultimate potential of this development and were willing to invest heavily in it without the prospect of near term profits. Capital and operating costs on the earlier and smaller reactors were high, but they showed the way for dramatic improvements in both the design and fabrication of reactor components and the efficiency of the utilization of the fuel. The breakthrough came in 1963 with the Oyster Creek Plant in New Jersey, where the capital and operating costs indicated an ability to generate nuclear power at a cost competitive with that produced from conventional fuels. From then on the rapidity and decisiveness with which nuclear reactors invaded the market amazed everyone, for they captured - 6 -