SHOOTOUT AT CLINCH RIVER 883 



amendment. One of the industry representatives said that there was 

 language in the Flowers amendment which deauthonzed and thereby 

 killed the CRBR. 



TO TERMINATE OR NOT TO TERMINATE 



"Where is it? Show it to me," Teague demanded. When the indus 

 try representative read the deauthorizing clause, Teague very honestly 

 stated that he did not know such a clause was in the amendment. 

 Teague immediately turned to the Flowers subcommittee staff director, 

 Rob Ketcham, to find out why the offending section was in there. 

 Ketcham explained that the General Accounting Office had based the 

 continuance of the CRBR on the basic authorization legislation in the 

 91st Congress, and advised that tinkering with that legislation might 

 jeopardize the continuance of the CRBR, given the strong opposition 

 of the Carter administration. Teague forthwith insisted that the de- 

 authorization clause be taken out of the Flowers amendment, so that 

 no opponent could claim the CRBR was being killed. The phrase was 

 then changed to read: 



With respect to the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project, the Secretary of 

 Energy is authorized and directed only to complete systems design and to complete 

 and test such selected components as arc necessary and appropriate for the purposes 

 of (the conceptual design study and the LMFBR Base Technology Program.) 



Ketcham subsequently described the situation this way: 



Since I'm a Boy Scout, I feel that if you are going to change something, you 

 should do it with a clean, sharp knife. 



The nuclear representatives were of course impressed with Teague's 

 open attitude and his desire to try and make sure that nobody would 

 draw the conclusion that the CRBR was being ' ' terminated . ' ' The word 

 itself provided a semantic hangup among all parties concerned. But 

 Teague's action at the meeting did not mollify the utilities. And 

 Teague, in 1979, in reflecting back on his strategy, conceded that he 

 should not have laid all his cards on the table: 



I wish now I had kept my damned mouth shut last year and not told all those 

 utilities about it. We would have passed it. I called 20 of them in, gave them the 

 amendment, told them all about it and they worked like ants that night and the 

 next day. 



SLUGGING THE REFEREE 



The committee met on the morning of April 11 to take up Flowers' 

 suggested compromise. The events of the following week were the 



