A year ago, President Donald Trump issued four executive orders aimed at restoring America’s lost global leadership in nuclear energy—a worthy goal. Over 80 years ago, the United States unlocked the secrets of atomic fission through the Manhattan Project and then, pursuant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s historic Atoms for Peace vision, harnessed that awesome power to benefit humanity through abundant clean energy.
In the 1950s, Admiral Hyman Rickover launched the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus. The nuclear Navy laid the groundwork for the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. By the late years of the Cold War, over 300 US commercial and naval reactors were operational, and the United States was the world’s unquestioned nuclear leader. US designs underpinned the reactor deployments in Europe and Asia. The United States also dominated the world market in supplying the enriched uranium required by most of the world’s reactors.
Read more in The National Interest here.
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