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Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Atomic Show #214 – Age of Radiance Author Craig Nelson

March 25, 2014 By Rod Adams

The Age of Radiance is good read that adds personality and details to a story I know pretty well – the history of the Atomic Age from the discovery of radiation, to the discovery of fission, to the Manhattan Project to apply the newfound power to the task of creating a war-ending super weapon, and the tortured path of the attempts by many to turn the power into a useful tool.

Along the way, Nelson reintroduces a number of important characters including Marie Curie, Lise Meitner, Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leslie Groves, and the man who plays a recurring role of arch villain, Edward Teller. Nelson has a knack of digging up fascinating personal details and weaving them into a narrative that turns history into much more of a page turner than it otherwise would be.

During our interview, I sensed a man who dearly loves his work and can infect an audience with enthusiasm.

I hope you enjoy the show and are motivated to read The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era.

Whether or not you read the book, please join me in an effort to prove that Nelson’s conclusion that the atomic era is over has been reached a few thousand years too early.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/AtomicShowFiles/atomic_20140324_214.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:40 — 25.5MB)

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Filed Under: Atomic history, Atomic Pioneers, Podcast

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Engineer-Poet says

    March 25, 2014 at 12:29 PM

    I just checked.  My library has it on order.

    • Rod Adams says

      March 25, 2014 at 1:07 PM

      @E-P

      I hope you put your name on the waiting list. It is a fascinating look at history with a personal touch.

  2. Reese says

    March 25, 2014 at 10:38 PM

    That was awesome. Thanks to you and Mr. Nelson. I noticed how the arguments in this interview stood on their own without the politically charged subjects. I loved his line about how “if only” the efforts of “environmental” groups had been focused on coal instead of nuclear.

    Next trip to Amazon, I will buy Nelson’s book to go with my “thousands of pages” of Richard Rhodes. Also Feynman, Cravens, R. Adams.

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