Confronting the nuclear paradox

From the dawn of the atomic age, the meaning of nuclear energy has been contested in language and in substance. The tension between the hope expressed by “atoms for peace” and the fear symbolized by a mushroom cloud remains at the heart of contemporary political debates regarding the future of nuclear energy. This tension results in countervailing rhetorical and social fault-lines that undermine the political consensus necessary to generate meaningful action to address arguably the two most significant threats facing the international community today: climate change and nuclear security, including nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism.