Abstract
SECTION 11 of the Atomic Energy Act limits the disclosure of information in the field of atomic energy, and the wording of this 'secrecy clause' is such as to include many types of scientific apparatus, under the heading of “plant”, and many types of scientific experiments as “production of atomic energy”. In the Parliamentary debate, the Minister of Supply had announced his intention of using his powers of exemption under the Act to make an Order which would release from the prohibition the tools of the nuclear physicist and, so far as possible, their results. This Order has now been made (Statutory Rules and Orders, 1947, No. 100, H.M. Stationery Office, Id.). Broadly speaking, it exempts from secrecy any apparatus for the investigation of nuclear reactions, except where the reaction is fission of an element of atomic number greater than 89 and results in a positive energy balance. It also exempts detecting apparatus (such as counters), accelerators (such as cyclotrons) and apparatus for generating charged or uncharged particles (including gamma-rays) by means of nuclear reactions, except by means of chain reactions from fission. The wording of the Order refers to the purpose for which the apparatus is to be operated, and presumably if any such apparatus is designed to be used for producing atomic power, or a weapon, disclosure of the details would remain prohibited except by permission of the Minister. This Exemption Order refers, of course, only to the prohibitions of the Atomic Energy Act, and does not affect the position as regards information obtained from official sources, which remains subject to the Official Secrets Act.
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Atomic Energy Act: Exemption Order. Nature 159, 157 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159157b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159157b0
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