Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
A Glowing Future for Nuclear
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
May 4, 2025
“Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy,” by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Algonquin Books, April 2025, 288 pages, $30.00 (Hardcover), $13.99 (E-book), $21.60 (Audiobook)
In 2016 Pacific Gas & Electricity announced it was closing Diablo Canyon, California’s last nuclear power plant, in 2024. California’s state government wanted nuclear phased out, replaced by “green” energy, solar and wind. In 2022, PG&E reversed its decision, with the blessing of California’s government.
“Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy,” by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow explains what happened to create the reversal. It explores the emergence of a 21st century nuclear power renaissance.
Tuhus-Dubrow seems an unlikely apostle of nuclear energy advocacy. She is a lifelong environmentalist. Yet in “Atomic Dreams” she shows how nuclear is tied to a new wave in environmentalism. Its adherents believe nuclear offers a path to decarbonization more reliable than renewables, and considerably safer than fossil fuels.
The book combines the history of the environmental movement and nuclear power industry. As Tuhus-Dubrow shows, the conservation movement, which grew into environmentalism, initially supported nuclear. Nuclear was viewed as an alternative to hydro-electric. Through the 1960s conservationists were focused on preserving untouched wilderness, intent on blocking any development altering unspoiled terrain.
She shows how that changed as pollution concerns, especially fears of radiation poisoning grew. Nuclear power became entangled with nuclear weapons and fallout fears in the eyes of the public. Three-Mile Island led many to believe nuclear power was dangerous.
Diablo Canyon was built in the dying days of conservationist support for nuclear. PG&E sited the plant at Diablo Canyon at the Sierra Club’s recommendation. She charts its construction, following the plant as environmental opposition to it grew,
Anti-nuclear advocates seemly won by the 1990s. No nuclear plants were planned, and those in service were scheduled for shutdown. Yet as decarbonization efforts grew, a split developed in the environmental movement, starting after the turn of the century.
Environmentalists like Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger concluded the green movement was too apocalyptic, offering a negative view of any future that did not eschew modern technology. They advocated for a positive future. They saw nuclear had a smaller environmental footprint than renewables and was safe.
Tuhus-Dubrow shows how these environmentalists joined forces with traditional nuclear advocates to create a reappraisal of nuclear. She takes readers through the nuclear plants, research facilities, and think tanks to show how nuclear energy’s renaissance emerged.
A fascinating book, “Atomic Dreams” shows why nuclear ended up eclipsed and how it reemerged as a green energy resource.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.