Gods, Titans and mortals: patterns of state involvement in nuclear development

Nuclear power, perhaps more than any other industrial technology, is a child of state interests. Whether peaceful or war life, use of atomic power has traditionally been identified with the larger imperatives of state security. Furthermore, the exploitation of nuclear power has required the foundation of complex state apparatuses to operate, regulate and justify it. In this paper, the examples of the USA, France and Sweden are used and comparisons made between their different histories of state involvement in nuclear power development. The discussion is shaped by drawing similarities between the behaviour of states and that of characters in the Prometheus myth - gods, Titans and mortals. (author)