I know nuclear energy has probably been discovered in MK2K universe, but just wondering to what extent. Has its inception vaguely follwed our own world with the onset of a bomb. I realize the technology might not get to the degree it has in our world since there are other energy substitutes that are alot more practical in MK2K world that this technology.
Nuclear power does exist in this world; the nation of Whales spearheaded its development, perhaps unsurprisingly, though they had assistance from a number of collaborators, including the Empire and Majestic Industries. It was developed in the twentieth century, after the end of the second world war created a period of relative stability, so a nuclear bomb has never been used in anger, though tests have taken place underground.
Whales was interest in nuclear energy both for military applications and for electrical power, since they don't have an abundance of traditional fuels on the island. Lord Rickkter, the Imperial Minister of Defense, has campaigned hard to prevent the weaponization of nuclear power; he knows what a nightmare it would be if the sort of destructive power usually limited to archwizards were to fall into the hands of mundanes. Whales, of course, wants nuclear weapons for exactly that reason — to ensure their defense against nations that have powerful magical weapons they themselves can't match.
At the dawn of the 21st century, Whales is the only nation that openly admits to having nuclear weapons, though they will not say how many — the Imperial Ministry of Defense estimates that they have between 20 and 50 warheads, divided between ship-launched cruise missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Whales has declared that these weapons are for deterrent purposes only, but they are a constant source of friction with the major nations of Galendor. The nations of the Southlands are generally intimidated enough by Whales's power to leave it alone, but there is some definite resentment in response to their saber-rattling.
Nuclear power plants are used by a number of nations because of the clean energy they provide; waste disposal is not as great a problem in MK-Earth as it is on our world, because alchemy can be used to transmute spent fuel rods into comparatively harmless lead. Metamor, Quenardya, Yamato, Rukilia, Ainador and Whales all make use of nuclear power to some extent, and Majestic Industries has its own reactors to power its research and production facilities in Algra. Most of the reactors in use today are smaller and safer than their RL-counterparts, with designs that automatically stop the chain reaction in event of a problem and thus prevent meltdowns. (RL Japan has developed such reactors, and they are just coming into use.)
Some of the smaller nations on other continents also make use of nuclear power, but they do not have the ability to construct such facilities themselves. MI manufactures "pocket reactors" with sealed fuel supplies to most of these nations; the reactors will run for ten years with no external maintenance before the fuel supply has to be replaced, which MI will happily do for the appropriate fees. Non-proliferation agreements between MI and the major world powers insure that these devices are equipped with tamper-protection; any attempt to open the reactor's fuel pack and find out how it works will fry the circuitry and transmute the fuel to lead. It's possible someone has bypassed these safeguards and reverse-engineered a bomb — but, if so, no one has heard about it yet, and it would be very hard to do without help from one of MI's own nuclear engineers.
