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Glite Dictionary
⚛️ To use nuclear power 💥 To explode with anger
to go nuclear

to go nuclear

3 6.6
To start producing electricity with nuclear power
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ ˈnjuːklɚ/
translation icon : adoptar energía nuclear
  • After much debate, the government decided to go nuclear and invest in nuclear power for sustainable energy.

They said not for this green energy, we're going nuclear and they want reliable power and emission free power.

Examples

  • Security reasons are the main motivation for going nuclear or keeping the nuclear option open.

    Academic text (1998)

  • If Iran must not be allowed to go nuclear, what then can be done to stop it?

    Academic text (2006)

  • Iran cannot be allowed to go nuclear.

    Blog text (18)

  • So Israel will either go nuclear or watch Iran finish their bomb.

    Blog text (8)

  • Japan is still highly unlikely to go nuclear.

    Academic text (1998)

  • With the prospect of North Korea going nuclear, these concerns take on increased urgency.

    Academic text (1998)

  • If there is even a hint that the Saudis are going nuclear, I expect the Americans to pull the rug from under their feet.

    Blog text (31)

  • A similar regional military calculus lay behind Pakistan's decision to go nuclear in 1998.

    Academic text (2011)

  • China then explicitly invoked the superpowers' monopoly on nuclear weapons to justify its own decision to go nuclear.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Taiwan is not likely to go nuclear overtly, as Deng Xiaoping and others on the Chinese mainland have cited that as a casus belli.

    Academic text (1996)

Antonyms

antinuclear
1 6.3

Against nuclear weapons or nuclear power

Surface Forms

go nuclear infinitive
went nuclear past
gone nuclear past participle
going nuclear present participle
goes nuclear third person singular

Morphology

go + nuclear

The meaning 'to decide to adopt nuclear power' is directly derivable from combining 'go' (come to be in a particular state) with 'nuclear' (relating to atomic energy); the construction 'go + adjective' routinely signals becoming or entering that state. This compositional pattern is common in English (e.g., 'go crazy', 'go public') and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Go nuclear comes from the image of a country or company deciding to go with nuclear power and build power plants. So to go nuclear in this sense means 'to decide to adopt nuclear power as a major energy source'.