Daniel Pope discusses the failed aspirations of nuclear power in Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. The article, “The Unkept Promise of Nuclear Power,” looks at the renewed attention towards nuclear power as a carbon-free option. However, Pope frames the promise of clean, affordable energy amid a history of failures and disasters of nuclear power.

“The quest to use the peaceful atom to build a utopian future has been marked by limited success, by failures and diminished hopes, and by an uncertain future. Today nuclear power generates about one fifth of the United States’ electric supply and roughly the same fraction of the world’s output.”

Read the full article at origins.osu.edu

Daniel Pope is a Professor Emeritus with the University of Oregon’s History Department. He specializes in United States business and economic history, as well as the history of nuclear power.

Origins is an online magazine published by the History Departments at the Ohio State University and Miami University. Each monthly publication includes topical interest articles from industry experts, essays, book reviews, news from the worldwide historian community, and more.