Nuclear Energy-A Subject in Need of Historical Research

Abstract

Nuclear energy literally burst on the world through the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ever since, the peaceful use of nuclear energy has been inseparable from nuclear weapons. The secrecy surrounding the early nuclear program, the vision of utter destruction from a nuclear war, and the tremendous dangers inherent in nuclear power production all have contributed to controversy. Few people claim to be neutral when the subject of nuclear power is raised. The books noted here constitute a representative cross section of the recent outpouring of materials on the controversial technology of nuclear energy. One has only to peruse the thinnest volume in the stack, Jerry Mansfield's The Nuclear Power Debate,' to sense the dimensions of the literature. And since the public history of nuclear energy spans just four decades, most works attempt to draw on the historical record. Although Mansfield set out to list books on the peaceful use of nuclear energy published within the last ten years, he also included many references to nuclear weapons and strategic policy.2 Everything is subjectively separated into pronuclear, antinuclear, and neutral categories, a task entailing value judgments about certain entries. If used