Making the Modern World - Smashing the atom

Conclusion

The development of nuclear power since the Second World War has its roots in research from the 1930s and beyond. During the 1950s, it was vaunted as the ultimate energy source, freeing humanity from the smog and pollution of coal dependency. Yet, despite such ambitions, nuclear power also threatened the destruction of the world in what US President Jimmy Carter described as ‘one long, cold, final afternoon’

Short Rotation Willow, a new ‘biomass’ crop. Grown to be burned as a fuel, it is potentially one of the biggest sources of reusable energy that the UK could produce.

Does nuclear power still have a role to play in a sustainable economy? As we head further into the twenty-first century, we find ourselves still reliant on unsustainable fossil fuels like coal and oil. New renewable energy technologies using wind and solar power are under development, but it will take time before they are able to generate sufficient quantities of energy.

Until they do, and if its associated problems were to be resolved, nuclear power could continue to play a role in fulfilling our everyday energy needs.

Renewable Energy, an oil painting by Phillip Fooks, 1995. Wind farms like this could meet a significant part of our energy needs in the future.

Resource Descriptions

Short Rotation Willow, a new ‘biomass’ crop. Grown to be burned as a fuel, it is potentially one of the biggest sources of reusable energy that the UK could produce.

Renewable Energy, an oil painting by Phillip Fooks, 1995. Wind farms like this could meet a significant part of our energy needs in the future.