The promise of nuclear power

This month we review the history of nuclear energy and consider why the promise of the early years of low-cost, limitless power was never fully realized. With the memories of the devastation of World War II remaining vivid, in 1953 President Eisenhower actively promoted the peaceful use of atomic power for both naval warship propulsion and civilian power generation. He believed that it was important to develop nuclear power generation; nuclear power promised to usher in an age of cheap and limitless electricity-however, as we now know, it was not to be. While the U.S. Federal Government subsidized reactor research and development, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was transformed from a weapons-production agency into an enthusiastic supporter of civilian nuclear power. New legislation relieved nuclear utilities of much of the financial responsibility for potential accidents. The stage was set at last for nuclear energy to begin supplanting fossil fuel generating capacity-however, as we all know, the technological promise of the early years would never be realized.