Introduction
The sky is aflame with thermonuclear power in one of a series of 1954 tests by the United States near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. The device was detonated from a platform in the sea to lower the spread of lethal radiation on land. Residents of the islands have yet to return. (Atomic Energy Commission/Dept. of Defense)
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Since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki some 60 years ago, the threat of nuclear war has been a dominant and troubling factor in world politics. For more than half the 20th century, the U.S. and the Soviet Union faced each other with vast nuclear arsenals, but the end of the Cold War brought hope that nuclear weapons finally had become irrelevant. Instead, concern has grown as new members have turned to nuclear weapons for their security in an increasingly dangerous world, including feuding Pakistan and India; meanwhile Iran and North Korea threaten to build their own nuclear weapons. Perhaps the biggest emerging danger is not from nation-states at all but from suicidal terrorists carrying nuclear weapons in backpacks. New preventive technologies and tighter regulations provide hope. But many proliferation experts say it's a race against time.
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Jun. 10, 2011 |
Nuclear Power |
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Jan. 28, 2011 |
Managing Nuclear Waste |
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Jan. 2007 |
Nuclear Proliferation |
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Mar. 10, 2006 |
Nuclear Energy |
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Jun. 08, 2001 |
Nuclear Waste |
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Jan. 22, 1993 |
Nuclear Fusion |
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Feb. 22, 1991 |
Will Nuclear Power Get Another Chance? |
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Dec. 05, 1986 |
Nuclear Reactor Safety |
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Jul. 29, 1983 |
Nuclear Power's Future |
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Dec. 04, 1981 |
America's Nuclear Waste Backlog |
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Sep. 12, 1980 |
Nuclear Fusion Development |
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Aug. 10, 1979 |
Determining Radiation Dangers |
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Dec. 03, 1976 |
Nuclear Waste Disposal |
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Aug. 22, 1975 |
Nuclear Safety |
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Aug. 04, 1971 |
Nuclear Power Options |
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Jun. 10, 1964 |
Atomic Power Development |
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Feb. 12, 1958 |
Radiation Hazards |
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Feb. 27, 1957 |
Atomic Power Race |
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Mar. 29, 1955 |
Atomic Energy for Industry |
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Apr. 24, 1946 |
Control of Atomic Energy |
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