Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign paralleled the history of nuclear power and weapons—from the beginnings of the Cold War to its end, through the ups and downs of nuclear energy and the return of nuclear saber-rattling. The testing of the first hydrogen bombs, the opening of the first commercial nuclear power reactors, and most of the earliest fusion energy experiments all took place while the Queen was on the throne. Here are some highlights of her atomic interactions caught on film over seven decades.
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