Rubio Varas, María del MarTorre Campo, Joseba de laConnors, D.P.2021-06-212021-06-2120200007-679110.1080/00076791.2020.1856080https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/40006Nuclear energy was one among business opportunities brought by the take off in science and technology after the Second World War. The narratives of the milestones of atomic history neglect the commercial, industrial and organizational aspects that made it possible. This paper concentrates on what makes the nuclear business exceptional (or not). We undertake an analysis of the nuclear supply business (designing, manufacturing and installing nuclear facilities) distinct from the analysis of the demand side (business operating nuclear power plants). We identify a continuing role of the state in civil nuclear businesses and a symbiotic relationship with private atomic business. And yet, for the most part the nuclear business applies the usual criteria of cost minimization and profit maximization within the boundaries of a non-perfectly competitive market. We argue that the development of civil nuclear projects is core not just to business history as a discipline but to post-war history. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.19 p.application/pdfeng© 2021 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License, which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.Nuclear energyState as entrepreneurVarieties of capitalisminfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAcceso abierto / Sarbide irekia