Movement for Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy and the Practice of Technological Utopia in the Early Cold War

Abstract

: Focusing on the movement for the peaceful use of atomic energy in the 1950s, this study analyzes the process of shaping, developing, and triggering risks. Additionally, it provides a reflection of the atomic utopia. The collation and analysis of archival reports, memoirs of witnesses, news reports, and relevant comments show the extensive implications of early ideas, technological choices, and interest relations in the field of nuclear application. The Cold War promoted superpowers to use the existing nuclear foundation to shape the atomic utopia, and the national independence movement encouraged other countries to enter the abovementioned utopia using nuclear power to achieve their own strategic objectives. The high energy consumption of modern society, unremitting pursuit of technical efficiency and economies of scale, excessive optimism of humans in managing complex systems and natural phenomena, and balance of interests in political and social fields promoted the emergence and strengthening of the atomic utopia, thereby mitigating the inherent vulnerability of large-scale energy systems.