From Military to Early Civilian Applications

Abstract

The article presents a historical overview of the development path of nuclear technology, from its military application to its civilian start up (Atoms for Peace) and early commercialisation of nuclear power plants. The chief aim is to demonstrate and analyse the commercial exploitation of nuclear energy and the beginnings of the nuclear industry by means of the link with the military research and development and production and its success based on tight industry-government integration. We describe the gradual growth of national nuclear frameworks and of the industry as a result of a combination of exogenous and endogenous factors originating with the military spill-over effects. These factors evolved during the subsequent phases of the technology development following the transfer of technological know-how from military establishments to civilian atomic agencies and the creation of a private industry.