FROM THE EDITOR
Nuclear through the ages
For the last 70 years Nuclear Engineering International has kept pace as the industry has ebbed and flowed. Today, nuclear stands on the cusp of a new era, happy birthday!.
eventy years ago this month the very first issue of Nuclear Engineering International rolled off the presses and out into the world. It marked the birth of a new nuclear era focused on the peaceful uses of this remarkable form of energy. Back then, in the hazy days of the mid-1950s,
nuclear power was still in its infancy. As it matured over the decades the industry has waxed and waned, hit milestones and roadblocks, made breakthroughs and gone backwards. It’s had terrible disasters and achieved incredible triumphs. NEi has been there every step of the way. Together with special supplements and yearbooks
the title is now closing in on 1000 editions that have charted the full span of the industry and it is an immense privilege to be able to play a small role. A highlight is the opportunity for reflection that such an anniversary brings. To look through the NEi archive is to flick through the pages of history and witness how the industry has changed over the years as the society it serves has also evolved. There’s little doubt that the readers of the 1950s would consider many of the devices that are taken for granted today as more akin to science fiction than consumer goods. But what is also clear is that they would recognise many of the same challenges that we still face today.
Affordable energy remains a prerequisite for a developed, industrial society. It underpins transport and industry, communications and computing, heating, lighting and clean water. The criticality of energy security of supply and the volatility of fossil fuel prices is a recurring risk and a theme that has been seen some of the strongest growth in nuclear development over the years. The oil shocks of the 1970s have been replicated to one degree or another throughout the decades and oil and gas pricing is a factor that continues to impact global economies to this day. Equally important is clean energy. Of course, back in the 1950s no-one would have mentioned carbon dioxide or global warming, but cleaner energy was at the forefront of many minds. In the same year as NEi launched, the UK’s Parliament enacted the Clean Air Act. A response to the lethal smogs that had killed thousands with sulphurous emissions from coal and other fossil fuel burning, the Act marked a breakthrough in legal protection for the environment. It finds its modern equivalent in measures such as the Kyoto Protocol or the Paris Accords but the need for cleaner energy is just as relevant today as it was more than half a century ago. Just a year or so after the birth of NEi, in late 1958, the
SS Africa Queen ran aground off the coast of Maryland in the US, spilling more than 20,000 tonnes of oil and foreshadowing even bigger environmental catastrophes such as the Exxon Valdez and the Deep Water Horizon oil spills. There’s no doubt that readers then as much as now would recognise the value of safe energy too. What is also clear is that the people of the 1950s would
have undoubtedly identified clean, affordable and safe as central characteristics of nuclear power. Back then it was promised as part of a high-tech glittering future, today it comes packaged as a well-established global industry based on proven technology and underpinned by some of the most exciting and exacting engineering. Nuclear engineering is pushing into new use cases too. Novel industrial applications facilitated by the birth of SMRs and microreactors, new medical and industrial uses are emerging and fusion is making sensational progress. For the last 70 years nuclear engineering has helped to
address some of the world’s most pressing issues. Here’s to the next. ■
David Appleyard
www.neimagazine.com | April 2026 | 3
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
