Former President Dwight Eisenhower might be both pleased and dismayed to see how 50 years have changed his dream of using the awesome destructive power in atomic bombs to foster peace and prosperity.
Such was Ike s idea in that famous “Atoms for Peace” speech to the United Nations half a century ago today, on Dec. 8, 1953. He unveiled a plan to share nuclear energy technology, then a top secret among a handful of countries, with any nation that pledged to use it peacefully.
At least 20 other countries were developing nuclear weapons, and dozens more had mushroom-cloud ambitions. President Eisenhower envisioned Atoms for Peace as a way to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons, and use nuclear energy in beneficial civilian ways. It was the classic sword-to-plowshares vision.
Well, in 50 years the world s nuclear powers have stockpiled enough megatonnage to destroy the Earth. But only a handful of countries are known to have nuclear weapons - the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, and Israel. Risks, of course, loom that other countries, including rogue states like North Korea, will get the bomb.
Plenty of other leaders had a hand in limiting the spread of nuclear weapons over the years. But President Eisenhower s foresight kept the bomb in check during those critical early years of the nuclear age.
And atoms are being used peacefully today, with enormous benefits to humanity - in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, purification of water and food, and of course, the generation of electricity.
America s 103 nuclear power plants produce about 20 percent of the nation s electricity. Worldwide, there are 441 nuclear power plants in 32 countries, including some that safely and reliably get most of their electricity from the atom. France relies on nuclear power for 80 per cent of its electricity, and Belgium 60 percent. Nuclear power produces half the electricity in several other countries.
Safety is the point that might provoke a response today from Ike, and the public s perceptions of safety.
Commercial nuclear power plants today have a safety record that, on the whole, is remarkably good. Death toll to the general public after almost 50 years is zero, as far as scientists know.
However, memories of Chernobyl and the close call at Three Mile Island in 1977, and the ongoing disgrace at FirstEnergy s Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, have badly tarnished nuclear power s reputation.
The blame rests largely with a few rotten apples among the nuclear electric utilities, whose carelessness and incompetence led to those and other incidents.
Individuals at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission share that blame. Their malfeasance of duty in enforcing regulations and fostering a strong safety culture at nuclear plants rank among nuclear power s biggest problems.
As Allied commander-in-chief during World War II, with a famously explosive temper, Ike never tolerated that kind of behavior. Nuclear power s main problems today involve the people shepherding the technology.
Ike would have drummed the misfeasors right out of the service. That same approach from the nuclear power industry and the NRC might do wonders to revive public confidence in atoms for peace today.
First Published December 6, 2003, 2:14 a.m.