3Power and duties of the Lord President of the Council in relation to the Authority.
(1)The general duty of the Lord President of the Council under section one of the Atomic Energy Act, 1946, to promote and control the development of atomic energy shall include, in particular, the duty of securing that, in the conduct of the affairs of the Authority, the proper degrees of importance are attached to the various applications of atomic energy.
(2)The Lord President of the Council shall have power to give the Authority such directions as he may think fit and the Authority shall comply with any directions so given.
(3)The said directions may be general or particular in character, but no such direction shall be given except after consultation with the Authority, and the Lord President of the Council shall not regard it as his duty to intervene in detail in the conduct by the Authority of their affairs unless in his opinion overriding national interests so require.
(4)The Authority shall furnish the Lord President of the Council with such returns, accounts and other information with respect to their property and activities as he may from time to time require and shall prepare programmes and estimates of expenditure in such form and at such times as he may require.
(5)The Authority shall as soon as possible after the end of each financial year make to the Lord President of the Council a report on the exercise and performance by the Authority of their functions during that year, indicating what parts thereof ought in their opinion to be withheld from publication in the interests of national security," and the Lord President of the Council shall lay a copy of the report, with the omission of such parts thereof as ought in his opinion to be withheld from publication in the interests of national security, before each House of Parliament, together with such comments as he may think fit to make.