Nuclear energy from Dwight Eisenhower to Mohamed El Baradei

At the start of the nuclear age, nuclear power was seen as a terrifying instrument of death. Nowadays, radiation sources, using either radioactive material or radiation generators, are widely used throughout the world in medicine, research, agriculture, industry, hydrology and education. The Nobel Peace Prize 2005 was awarded jointly to Mohamed El Baradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Nuclear Law has not yet the importance it needs to have. We are now in the beginning of a new age where the relaunch of nuclear generation must be seen as a positive event. However, nuclear and radiological terrorism and the increase in the number of countries with nuclear weapons is a growing global security concern. This paper outlines the most important events in nuclear affairs from 1945 to nowadays.