Atomic radiative corrections without QED: role of the zero-point field

We derive the atomic radiative corrections predicted by QED using an alternative approach that offers the advantage of physical clarity and transparency. The element that gives rise to these corrections is the fluctuating zero-point radiation field (ZPF) of average energy (hbar \omega)/2 per mode, which - in contrast with QED - is taken here as a primordial real entity in permanent interaction with matter and responsible for its quantization. After briefly recalling how quantum mechanics itself emerges as a result of the balance between the ZPF and radiation reaction, the most important higher-order effects of the radiative terms on the atom are studied. The nonrelativistic QED formulas for the lifetimes and the Lamb shift, as well as the corrections to the latter due to external factors that modify the vacuum field, are thus obtained in a self-consistent approach and without the need to resort to second quantization to the present order of approximation.