Editing Atomic Age (section)

{{short description|Period of history since 1945}}
{{about|the historical era|the comic-book miniseries|Atomic Age (comics){{!}}''Atomic Age'' (comics)|the design style|Atomic Age (design)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
[[File:Trojan1.jpg|thumb|An early [[nuclear power plant]] that used atomic energy to generate electricity]]
{{History of technology sidebar}}
The '''Atomic Age''', also known as the '''Atomic Era''', is the period of history following the detonation of the first [[nuclear weapon]], [[The Gadget]] at the ''[[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity]]'' test in New Mexico on 16 July 1945 during [[World War&nbsp;II]]. Although [[nuclear chain reaction]]s had been hypothesized in 1933 and the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction ([[Chicago Pile-1]]) had taken place in December 1942,<ref name="Holl">{{cite book |last=Holl |first=Jack |year=1997 |title=Argonne National Laboratory, 1946–96 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |isbn=978-0-252-02341-5}}</ref> the Trinity test and the ensuing [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] that ended World War{{nbsp}}II represented the first large-scale use of [[nuclear technology]] and ushered in profound changes in [[sociopolitical]] thinking and the course of technological development.

While [[Nuclear power|atomic power]] was promoted for a time as the epitome of progress and modernity,<ref name=bks2011/> entering into the nuclear power era also entailed frightful implications of [[nuclear warfare]], the [[Cold War]], [[mutual assured destruction]], [[nuclear proliferation]], the risk of [[nuclear disaster]] (potentially as extreme as [[Human impact on the environment|anthropogenic]] global [[nuclear winter]]), as well as beneficial civilian applications in [[nuclear medicine]]. It is no easy matter to fully segregate peaceful uses of nuclear technology from military or terrorist uses (such as the fabrication of [[dirty bomb]]s from [[radioactive waste]]), which complicated the development of a global nuclear-power export industry right from the outset.

In 1973, concerning a flourishing nuclear power industry, the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] predicted that by the turn of the 21st century, 1,000 reactors would be producing electricity for homes and businesses across the U.S. However, the "nuclear dream" fell far short of what was promised because nuclear technology produced a range of social problems, from the [[nuclear arms race]] to [[nuclear meltdown]]s, and the unresolved difficulties of bomb plant cleanup and civilian plant waste disposal and decommissioning.<ref>John Byrne and Steven M. Hoffman (1996). ''Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk'', Transaction Publishers, p. 99.</ref> Since 1973, reactor orders declined sharply as electricity demand fell and construction costs rose. Many orders and [[List of cancelled nuclear reactors in the United States|partially completed plants were cancelled]].<ref name="Mortal Hands p. 283">[[Stephanie Cooke]] (2009). ''[[In Mortal Hands: A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age]]'', Black Inc., p. 283.</ref>

By the late 1970s, nuclear power had suffered a remarkable international destabilization, as it was faced with economic difficulties and widespread [[anti-nuclear movement|public opposition]], coming to a head with the [[Three Mile Island accident]] in 1979 and the [[Chernobyl disaster]] in 1986, both of which adversely affected the nuclear power industry for many decades.<ref>"Nuclear Follies", 11 February 1985, cover story in ''[[Forbes magazine]]''.</ref>