Nuclear power, long derided as too expensive and too dangerous, is having a bit of a comeback, thanks in part to a new generation of influencers who have embraced the atom (seemingly, without question). A recent New York Times profile of influencer Isabelle Boemeke — who likes to pose with uranium pellets and other atomic swag — neatly captured our nation’s newfound enthusiasm for nuclear power.

Ah, youth. If an earlier generation of enthusiasts were still alive, they would almost certainly retort: “Hold my beer.” That’s because the original atomic culture they created puts to shame anything that our current crop of pro-nuclear pundits could ever produce — and a quick tour of that past suggests this latest revival is just as unlikely to pan out.

Though the comics and pulp fiction of the

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