Hi, larc:
I was raised in the town where the fuel for the atomic bomb was developed (plutonium). I remember the secrecy. :)
But when discussing E=Mc^2, my question is about why people forget that the 'c' is not just the speed of light, but the speed of light squared
Why do you say nothing can travel faster than the speed of light?
Atomic energy is not the result of E=Mc^2, but of a neutron breaking away from the nucleus of a helium atom and bombarding another atom, thus splitting it. This causes a chain reaction of other neutrons flying away and bombarding other atoms, and ultimately an enormous explosion occurs in the release of energy. All at very high speed. (Very simplistic statement of a very complex phenomenon.)