In the annals of the debate over nuclear power, the phrase that is probably the most infamous is “too cheap to meter.”
The origin of the phrase is a speech given on September 16, 1954 by Lewis L. Strauss (1896-1974), a former Navy officer who was appointed Chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1953 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ever since Strauss gave that speech, opponents of nuclear energy plants have claimed or assumed that he was saying nuclear power would be “too cheap to meter.”
Of course, nuclear power didn’t turn out to be “cheap” from a cost-per-kilowatt-hour perspective. At least, not compared to traditional energy sources like coal, oil and hydropower, which have been economically “cheap” but are arguably more costly than nukes in terms of their impacts on the environment (barring accidents).
Anyway, putting aside that debate, it’s pretty clear that electricity from fission-powered nuclear plants will never be “too cheap to meter.”
So, for decades, Strauss and his phrase have been ridiculed and held up as a prime example of absurd claims made by nuclear power boosters.
Except, Strauss didn’t actually say what anti-nuclear activists say he said.
What he actually said in his speech to the National Association of Science Writers, in New York City on September 16th, 1954, dealt with how scientific research in general would lead to better lives for future generations. And, his meter remark was about electric energy in general, not nuclear power in particular.
As reported in the New York Times the next day, what he really said was this:
“Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter...will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours, as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age.”
For an excellent in-depth look at the facts about Strauss’ “too cheap to meter” remark, visit the page about it on the Canadian Nuclear Society website.
Here are some of the other famous quotes and phrases linked to SEPTEMBER 16:
• “Mexicanos, Viva México!” Famed rallying cry of Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on September 16, 1810, which helped fuel a revolution against Spanish rule – which is why September 16th is celebrated annually as Independence Day in Mexico.
• “Picture you upon my knee, just tea for two, and two for tea.” - The song "Tea for Two" from the musical No, No, Nanette, which opened on September 16, 1925. Lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans.
• “Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini?” - Robert Benchley to Ginger Rogers, in the movie The Major and the Minor, which was released in the USA on September 16, 1942.
