Atoms are truly amazing. What kind of cosmic poetry is it that the smallest building blocks of matter contain such voluminous energy? The high efficiency of nuclear power has enchanted many writers for good reason. But many science fiction worlds take it too far. We don't want atomic toasters no matter how efficient they are, because splitting atoms is just not something we want a toaster to worry about. Nuclear power may one day be safe enough for widespread use but until then, let's leave the reactions to the reactors.