I agree with pohnpei397's perspective. The "original intention" of atomic energy research -- at least of the huge research project in WWII -- was to develop a weapon. Only later does this project find major civilian applications.
This atomic energy example illustrates something very common: particularly in wartime (including the Cold War), modern militaries often push expensive research projects in order to develop more powerful techniques for offense and defense. Some of these techniques have huge and often wholly unexpected applicatons in peace time.
Airplanes, for example, were initially "toys" or strange artifacts that attempted to make possible the human dream of flight. With WWI, they were assigned and designed to better serve practical uses that they still serve today. If that's not a good example, here's another that might be better (but is certainly a lot more disturbing). In their war against entire populations of people, the Nazis found a use for the waste product of combustion engines, carbon monoxide; it was the gas used in most executions. They also adapted a pesticide (Zylon B, invented for vermin control) to kill those humans whom they also considered to be vermin.
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