Nuclear power
The global political climate of the Cold War meant that nuclear power – and in particular, nuclear weaponry – was a hot button topic in the 1980s. Media of the time ran the gamut of reactions, between using it as a catch-all phlebotinum plot device right the way up to grim visions of apocalyptic nuclear winters. Notably, the show bible for the Transformers cartoon 
emphasised that its stories should have strictly no mention of nuclear energy. But let's take a look at the comics...
The Transformers
Machine Man
Under Tom DeFalco's pen, Machine Man introduced the Alternative Resources Centre, a prestigious research facility focussed on developing new sources of clean and renewable energy. Dr. Voletta Todd overworked herself in the pursuit of hydrogen fusion, and a careless mistake caused the lab to be set ablaze. When Machine Man arrived on the scene, he was thankful that they wouldn't have to contend with nuclear radiation. Kill Me or Cure Me
The Chromobots
Mychailo Kazybrid's The Chromobots treated nuclear weaponry with surprising reverence. The main goal of supervillain Predator was to combine Chromobot technology with human nuclear armaments to create a super-weapon to destroy Chromos Five and devastate Earth, "dwarf[ing Dudley's] thoughts of what nuclear destruction really is!" The Chromobots issue 16 Predator's first objective concerned abducting Tessa Stone, owner of Stone Industries, a nuclear arms developer (conspicuously noted as supplying to Western powers). Issue 17 Shield was concerned that the beauty of planet Earth would be destroyed if Predator succeeded. Issue 21
After being lured into a time shift, Issue 22 Dudley and the Chromobots arrived in the year 2535, in which Earth was a devastated wasteland. Mikros deduced that a nuclear war had taken place, grimly remarking that it was a type of war in which there wouldn't be that much fighting. Issue 23 The planet was hospitable only to Predator and his Chromatic Mutants; Issue 24 all humans had been wiped out, and Chromos Five had been totally destroyed. Issue 25 This grim future was averted when Dudley stole Predator's time modulator and took it through the time shift back to 1985, trapping the supervillain in a timeline that had folded in on itself. Issue 26
