Atomic Disenchantment

A global history of nuclear energy from 1945 to today—and why the atom has failed to become a dominant, cheap, and safe energy source.

Nuclear energy is once again being promoted as the means to phase out fossil fuels and solve environmental problems. Yet nuclear energy has rarely delivered on its past promises. Instead, attempts to harness the atom have led to some of the most severe tensions and political struggles in modern history. In Atomic Disenchantment, Per Högselius argues that the failure of nuclear energy is best explained by the clashes and contradictions in the nuclear industry’s attempts to connect with older technological traditions and practices. He looks not only at the Western great powers and larger non-Western countries, but also at smaller countries in Western and Eastern Europe and in the Global South.

Högselius examines the global history of nuclear energy from 1945 to today. Viewing nuclear power as a hybrid technology that combines new nuclear science discoveries with a range of older technological practices, he considers the history of nuclear power to be one of broken promises and unfulfilled visions and ambitions. Analyzing nuclear energy from a global historical perspective provides a necessary tool for understanding the ongoing nuclear debate.