…No. There were plenty of tests, for example the atomic pile built at the University of Chicago. They certainly didn’t just do a bunch of math and then build an industrial nuclear power plant on the first go.
there is criticism from actual physicists over these colliders
I don’t think you’re making the same criticisms they are (I last read some of those criticisms a while ago, though).
I’m not saying a particle accelerator was used to test the theoretical underpinnings of nuclear power. I’m saying testing was done, that is, they did not “accomplish[] all of that with the theoreticals.” They just used earlier tools.
To test modern physics, many (not all) physicists say the tool they need is an accelerator.
…No. There were plenty of tests, for example the atomic pile built at the University of Chicago. They certainly didn’t just do a bunch of math and then build an industrial nuclear power plant on the first go.
I don’t think you’re making the same criticisms they are (I last read some of those criticisms a while ago, though).
they literally did do that
the first particle accelerator was built like over a decade later
I’m not saying a particle accelerator was used to test the theoretical underpinnings of nuclear power. I’m saying testing was done, that is, they did not “accomplish[] all of that with the theoreticals.” They just used earlier tools.
To test modern physics, many (not all) physicists say the tool they need is an accelerator.