Death for Dixon-Yates?

Congressional Democrats last week figured they had found a way to kill the Dixon-Yates contract. By a strict party-line vote of 10 to 8, the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy passed a resolution calling on AEC to cancel its $107 million contract to provide 600,000 kw. of power from a new steam plant to be built at West Memphis, Ark. Then the committee proceeded to make it as tough as possible for AEC to ignore its wishes. It rescinded a waiver voted last year on the committee's right to study the contract for 30 days while Congress is in session.

The net effect of the committee's action was to throw up such a legal dust storm that the air may never clear, thus forcing both Dixon-Yates and AEC to cancel the contract. The Democrats say that the previous committee had no right to grant a waiver while Congress was out of session. Thus, by rescinding the waiver, the contract is right back where it started and must now lie before the Joint Committee for 30 days.

In the face of the committee's resolution, Democrats hoped that AEC would drop the contract. But even if AEC decides to go ahead with the contract, so many legal questions have been stirred up over the waivers and other provisions that a long and costly court battle would be inevitable. Exulted a Democrat on the Joint Committee last week: "All Dixon-Yates has got now is a law suit."

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