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Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Britains Hidden Agenda. 60 Years of Nuclear History (1999)

Auteur	Fred Roberts
Datum	1999
Classificatie	2.05.0.00/46 (GROOT-BRITTANNIË - ALGEMEEN)
Voorkant

Preface

Prior to the discovery of the microchip, nuclear power was usually regarded as being 
the major discovery of the century. Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money have been 
poured into exploiting this energy source for military weapons and electricity 
generation alike. Much has been kept from the public over what has been done with 
vast amounts of their money in their name, ostensibly for reasons of security. Was 
the money well spent? Did nuclear energy developments denude other projects of 
money, skilled manpower or physical resources? Were the problems and dangers of 
radioactivity underestimated, sometimes ignored? If, as we go into a new century, oil 
and gas become scarce and, despite the availability of renewable energy sources such 
as wind and solar, the country is tempted to launch a second nuclear programme, it 
will be vital to avoid the pitfalls of the first one.
Whilst working in the nuclear business it dawned upon me how closely linked were 
the two strands of nuclear power - electricity generation and nuclear weapons 
production. I became aware of how the links had both a technical and a political 
dimension. Many books have been written on either nuclear electricity or nuclear 
weapons, generally covering a fixed period of time. But now I consider it imperative 
for there to be available a concise, analytical history of both strands of nuclear power 
in Britain, starting at the beginning of World War 11 and continuing to the present 
time, a span of about sixty years. In 1939, this country was still in the pre-nuclear age 
but in the late nineties we are entering the post-nuclear age. J. S. Mill once said that 
politics concerns those subjects on which it is in the interests of rulers that people 
should be misled. In my view, this definition certainly applies to the development of 
nuclear energy and this book is therefore concerned more with the political history of 
the exploitation of nuclear fission than with its technology. It should be stressed that 
I am not using the word politics in the sense of parliamentary politics. Indeed, over 
the years there has been very little debate in Britain's parliament concerning nuclear 
affairs because of the ongoing cross-bench agreement on such matters, irrespective 
of whether there was a Labour or Conservative government in power.

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