If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, online access is included in your subscription. Activate your Online Access Now

Opposition to nuclear power was foundational to groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. According to Tuhus-Dubrow, in the 1960s they had "an anti-nuclear ideology at their core; being an environmentalist became synonymous with being anti-nuclear." Before climate change became an issue, atomic power was associated with meltdowns and nuclear war. Because cheap energy was abundant and greenhouse gases were not yet a concern, activists had the luxury of opposing nuclear power without identifying alternative energy sources.