Evaluates the potential of nuclear technology as a non-polluting, renewable energy source while describing how nuclear energy's negative association with weapons development and the Cold War has stymied the progress of its beneficial uses.
"Nuclear power is a paradox of danger and salvation--the renewable energy source our society so desperately needs is the one we are most afraid to use. The American public's introduction to nuclear technology was manifested in destruction and death. With Hiroshima and the Cold War still ringing in our ears today, our perception of all things nuclear is seen through the lens of weapons development. The history of atomic energy is full of mind-bending theories, deep secrets, and the misdirection of public consciousness, some deliberate, some accidental. A result of this fixation on bombs and nuclear fallout is that our development of a non-polluting, renewable energy source stands frozen in time. It has been said that if gasoline were first used to make napalm bombs, we would all be driving electric cars. Our skewed view of nuclear power makes James Mahaffey's new look at the extraordinary paradox of nuclear energy that much more compelling. From medieval alchemy to Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and the Manhattan Project, atomic science is far from the spawn of a wicked weapons program, and its continual development poses the premier question of the modern age: Now that the energy of the universe is available to us, how do we use it? For death and destruction? Or as a fuel for our society that has minimal impact on the environment and future generations? Outlining the development of nuclear science throughout history, Mahaffey's brilliant yet accessible book is essential to our understanding of the phenomenon that is nuclear power and how it will shape the twenty first century."--Jacket
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