Editing Atomic Age (section)

== 1950s ==
{{further|Atomic Age (design)}}
 
[[File:Atomic test seen from Las Vegas.jpg|thumb|This view of downtown Las Vegas shows a [[mushroom cloud]] in the background. Scenes such as this were typical during the 1950s. From 1951 to 1962 the government conducted 100 atmospheric tests at the nearby [[Nevada Test Site]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Simon|first1=Steven|last2=Bouville|first2=Andre|date=2006|title=Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks|url=https://www.americanscientist.org/article/fallout-from-nuclear-weapons-tests-and-cancer-risks|access-date=12 September 2020|website=American Scientist|publisher=AmericanScientist.org|quote=Exposures 50 years ago still have health implications today that will continue into the future.}}</ref>]]

The phrase gained popularity as a feeling of nuclear optimism emerged in the 1950s in which it was believed that all power generators in the future would be atomic in nature. The [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]] would render all conventional explosives obsolete, and [[nuclear power]] plants would do the same for power sources such as [[Coal-fired power station|coal]] and [[Heating oil|oil]]. There was a general feeling that everything would use a nuclear power source of some sort, in a positive and productive way, from [[Food irradiation|irradiating food]] to preserve it, to the development of [[nuclear medicine]]. There would be an age of peace and plenty in which atomic energy would "provide the power needed to [[Desalination|desalinate water]] for the thirsty, irrigate the deserts for the hungry, and fuel interstellar travel deep into outer space".<ref name=bks2011>[[Benjamin K. Sovacool]] (2011). ''[[Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power]]: A Critical Global Assessment of Atomic Energy'', [[World Scientific]], p. 259.</ref> This use would render the Atomic Age as significant a step in technological progress as the first smelting of [[Bronze Age|bronze]], of [[Iron Age|iron]], or the commencement of the [[Industrial Revolution]].

This included even cars, leading [[Ford Motor Company]] to display the [[Ford Nucleon]] [[concept car]] to the public in 1958. There was also the promise of golf balls which could always be found and [[nuclear-powered aircraft]], which the U.S. federal government even spent US$1.5 billion researching.<ref name=bks2011/> Nuclear policymaking became almost a collective technocratic fantasy, or at least was driven by fantasy:<ref name=sh96>John Byrne and Steven M. Hoffman (1996). ''Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk'', Transaction Publishers, pp. 50–51.</ref>
<blockquote>
The very idea of splitting the atom had an almost magical grip on the imaginations of inventors and policymakers. As soon as someone said—in an even mildly credible way—that these things ''could'' be done, then people quickly convinced themselves ... that they ''would'' be done.<ref name=sh96/>
</blockquote>

In the US, military planners "believed that demonstrating the civilian applications of the atom would also affirm the American system of private enterprise, showcase the expertise of scientists, increase personal living standards, and defend the democratic lifestyle against communism".<ref>[[Benjamin K. Sovacool]] (2011). ''[[Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power]]: A Critical Global Assessment of Atomic Energy'', [[World Scientific]], p. 266.</ref> Some media reports predicted that thanks to the giant nuclear power stations of the near future [[electricity]] would soon become much cheaper and that [[electricity meter]]s would be removed, because power would be "[[too cheap to meter]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cns-snc.ca/media/toocheap/toocheap.html |title=Too Cheap to Meter? |access-date=17 June 2007 |date=30 March 2007 |publisher=[[Canadian Nuclear Society]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204122504/http://www.cns-snc.ca/media/toocheap/toocheap.html |archive-date=4 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

When the [[Shippingport Atomic Power Station|Shippingport reactor]] went online in 1957 it produced electricity at a cost roughly ten times that of coal-fired generation. Scientists at the AEC's own Brookhaven Laboratory "wrote a 1958 report describing accident scenarios in which 3,000 people would die immediately, with another 40,000 injured".<ref>John Byrne and Steven M. Hoffman (1996). ''Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk'', Transaction Publishers, p. 55.</ref> However Shippingport was an experimental reactor using highly [[enriched uranium]] (unlike most power reactors) and originally intended for a (cancelled) nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

[[Kenneth Nichols]], a consultant for the [[Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant|Connecticut Yankee]] and [[Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station|Yankee Rowe]] nuclear power stations, wrote that while considered "experimental" and not expected to be competitive with coal and oil, they "became competitive because of inflation ... and the large increase in price of coal and oil." He wrote that for nuclear power stations the capital cost is the major cost factor over the life of the plant, hence "antinukes" try to increase costs and building time with changing regulations and lengthy hearings, so that "it takes almost twice as long to build a (U.S.-designed boiling-water or pressurised water) atomic power plant in the United States as in France, Japan, Taiwan or South Korea." French pressurised-water nuclear plants produce 60% of their electric power and have proven to be much cheaper than oil or coal.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nichols |first= Kenneth David |title= The Road to Trinity: A Personal Account of How America's Nuclear Policies Were Made |url= https://archive.org/details/roadtotrinity0000nich |url-access= registration |year=  1987|publisher= William Morrow and Company |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-688-06910-0 |oclc= 15223648 |page= [https://archive.org/details/roadtotrinity0000nich/page/344 344] }}</ref>

=== Atomic City ===
{{See also|Atomic tourism}}
During the 1950s, [[Las Vegas]] earned the nickname "Atomic City" for becoming a hotspot where tourists would gather to watch above-ground nuclear weapons tests taking place at [[Nevada Test Site]]. Following the detonation of Able, one of the first atomic bombs dropped at the Nevada Test Site, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce began advertising the tests as an entertainment spectacle to tourists.

The detonations proved popular, and casinos throughout the city capitalised on the tests by advertising hotel rooms or rooftops which offered views of the testing site or by planning "Dawn Bomb Parties" where people would come together to celebrate the detonations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atomic Tourism in Nevada |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/atomic-tourism-nevada/ |website=pbs.org |access-date=23 July 2020}}</ref> Most parties started at midnight, and musicians would perform at the venues until 4:00&nbsp;a.m. when the party would briefly stop so guests could silently watch the detonation. Some casinos capitalised on the tests further by creating so called "[[Atomic (cocktail)|atomic cocktails]]", a mixture of vodka, cognac, sherry and champagne.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bosker |first1=Gideon |title=Atomic Cocktails |date=1998 |publisher=Chronicle Books |location=San Francisco |page=8}}</ref> Meanwhile, groups of tourists would drive out into the desert with family or friends to watch the detonations.

Despite the health risks associated with [[nuclear fallout]], tourists and viewers were told to simply "shower". Later on, however, anyone who had worked at the testing site or lived in areas exposed to nuclear fallout fell ill and had higher chances of developing cancer or suffering pre-mature deaths.<ref name="BI">{{cite news |last1=Loria |first1=Kevin |title=Nuclear explosions from the past are still causing cancer and health problems today |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-explosion-fallout-cancer-health-effects-2017-8 |access-date=24 October 2018 |work=Business Insider |date=17 August 2017}}</ref>