Скачать или смотреть America Was Close to Clean Energy in the 1950s — Until Oil Took Control

In 1953, the Atomic Age wasn't a threat; it was a promise. President Eisenhower’s "Atoms for Peace" initiative envisioned a world where electricity was "too cheap to meter," and the first commercial nuclear plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, proved it wasn't science fiction. We were on the brink of a carbon-free reality, building a future where American ingenuity would solve the energy crisis before it even began, turning the same science that ended a war into a gift for all of humanity.
But behind the scenes, a different power was at play. As early as 1959, the oil industry was warned by physicists like Edward Teller about the catastrophic climate impacts of fossil fuels, yet instead of pivoting, they fought back. By quietly funding anti-nuclear narratives and amplifying safety fears, the fossil fuel industry successfully derailed the nuclear revolution. They traded a smokeless, independent energy future for decades of carbon dependence, ensuring that their profits remained secure while our cleanest large-scale energy source became a symbol of fear.
Today, we look back at Shippingport not just as a power plant, but as a ghost of a stolen future. We almost solved the 21st century's biggest environmental challenge seventy years ago, but the narrative was rewritten by those with the most to lose. This is the story of how America stood at the edge of energy independence and why we were nudged back into the smog.