Stichting Laka

Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
The Atomic Complex. A Worldwide Political History of Nuclear Energy (1980)

Auteur	Bertrand Goldschmidt
Datum	1980
Classificatie	6.01.0.40/76 (GESCHIEDENIS ONTWIKKELING KERNENERGIE)
Voorkant

Foreword

Mankind's understanding and conquest of the tremendous forces in the atomic 
structure of matter began shortly before World War II. These forces resulted from 
a purely scientific discovery, that of fission in the nucleus of the uranium atom.
Never has a discovery proved itself so rapidly and completely in the fulfillment of 
its early promises: the weapon, the submarine engine, and the power station. Never 
has a discovery been so technically, politically, and psychologically complex; never 
has the resulting technological progress suffered so many discontinuities; and never 
has a discovery had so many international implications and consequences.
At a single stroke, the age-old dream of the alchemist became reality: uranium could 
be transmuted into plutonium, a new element with potential power far exceeding 
that of the gold that the philosopher's stone was supposed to produce.
But the dream could become a nightmare. The same long series of industrial 
developments and realizations could lead in two directions: the one toward a new 
energy source able to meet the needs of the industrial world from now on, and then, 
from the turn of the century, to help overcome the problems of underdevelopment; the 
other toward a devastating weapon- the weapon that brought the last world conflict 
to an end-and toward the thousand-times more powerful weapons since conceived.
The shadow of a major disaster hovers over every landmark along this road of 
multiple technical successes. Mankind, having mastered the secret of atomic fire, 
has not succeeded in banning atomic weapons.

Deze publicatie is alleen op papier bij Laka beschikbaar, niet als pdf.
Publicaties zijn te leen of informeer of we een kopie kunnen maken. Soms, als we tijd hebben, lukt dat tegen kostprijs van de kopieën.