Visions

The first reactor—a greasy black hulk in 1942 wartime Chicago, barely able to power a lightbulb—led to the atomic bomb horror of Nagasaki three years later. In reaction and inspired by a dream of bountiful, inexpensive electricity derived from the stupendous energy of nuclear fission, a generation of pioneers embarked on a quest to bring nuclear power reactors to the peoples of the world.

VISIONS unfolds the trials and triumphs of the pioneers over nuclear energy’s first decade and a half:

• The scientists unveiling the revolutionary new science of nuclear physics
• The inventors devising and championing nearly a dozen competing, challenging reactor designs across half a dozen countries
• The tinkerers building and testing experimental plants as springboards to mainstream investment
• The electrical manufacturers—companies or nations—gambling hugely on a new industrial sector
• The utilities, public officials, and politicians contemplating leaps into the unknowns of a new energy technology
• The disciples of a new profession—radiation physics—taking a halting path toward understanding and regulating radiation dosage
• The guardians of public safety wrestling with ensuring zero catastrophic accidents with humankind’s most dangerous technology
• The lonely pioneers investigating the future problem of radioactive waste management
• The people and nations seeking to keep a lid on power reactor expertise leaking into a profusion of nuclear weapons countries
• The pioneer regulators