ABSTRACT
Atomic bombs and the production of nuclear power are watershed events of modern societies. What ended WWII and was deemed to be the energy source of the 21th century—‘too cheap to meter’—came to a grinding halt in the 1980s. In this chapter I will trace this trajectory by addressing the following questions:
How did nuclear power come about?
How has the nuclear imaginary changed since the 1950s?
How and why did public support for nuclear power fade?
How did the nuclear community respond to public resistance?
What is the legacy of this resistance?
