Nuclear issues Books

Book SynopsisEmma Watson’s Our Shared Shelf book club choiceNew York Times bestseller ‘Fascinating’ Sunday Times ‘Thrilling’ ★★★★★ Mail on SundayAll they wanted was the chance to shine. Be careful what you wish for…‘The first thing we asked was, “Does this stuff hurt you?” And they said, “No.” The company said that it wasn’t dangerous, that we didn’t need to be afraid.’ As the First World War spread across the world, young American women flocked to work in factories, painting clocks, watches and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous – the girls shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in dust from the paint. However, as the years passed, the women began to suffer from myTrade Review'Kate Moore’s new book will move, shock and anger you.' * The Big Issue *‘This fascinating social history – one that significantly reflects on the class and gender of those involved – [is] Catherine Cookson meets Mad Men . . . The importance of the brave and blighted dial-painters cannot be overstated.’ * Sunday Times *‘Thrilling and carefully crafted.’ * Mail on Sunday *‘Heartfelt.’ * Sunday Telegraph *‘Kate Moore . . . writes with a sense of drama that carries one through the serpentine twists and turns of this tragic but ultimately uplifting story.’ * The Spectator *‘Fascinating yet tragic.’ * The Sun *‘Heartbreaking . . . what this book illustrates brilliantly is that battling for justice against big corporations isn’t easy.’ * BBC Radio 4, Woman’s Hour *‘A perfect blend of the historical, the scientific and the personal, this richly detailed book sheds a whole new light on this unique element and the role it played in changing workers’ rights. The Radium Girls makes it impossible for you to ignore these women’s incredible stories, and proves why now, more than ever, we can’t afford to ignore science, either.’ * Bustle *‘Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Moore’s harrowing but humane story describes the struggle of a few brave women who took their case to court in a fight for justice that is still resonant today.’ * Saga *‘Kate Moore’s The Radium Girls tells the story of a cohort of women who made history by entering the workforce at the dawn of a new scientific era . . . Moore sheds new light on a dark chapter in American labour history; the radium girls . . . live again in her telling.’ -- Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author‘Kate Moore’s gripping narrative about the betrayal of the radium girls – gracefully told and exhaustively researched – makes this a non-fiction classic. Moore’s compassion for her subjects and her story-telling prowess . . . bring alive a shameful era in America’s industrial history.’ -- Rinker Buck, author of The Oregon Trail

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Nobel Prize in Literature''Desperately important and impossible to put down. It is timeless. . . what shines clear from the testimonies is love - love which can make you do the most spectacular things '' Sheena Patel, Observer''- A new translation of Voices from Chernobyl based on the revised version -In April 1986 a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget.''Beautifully written. . . heart-breaking'' - Arundhati Roy, Elle ''One of the most humane and terrifying books I''ve ever read'' - Helen Simpson, ObserverTrade ReviewAbsolutely essential and heartbreaking reading. There's a reason Ms. Alexievich won a Nobel Prize -- Craig Mazin, creator of the HBO series ChernobylDesperately important and impossible to put down. It is timeless and has sparked so much thought about infinity, sacrifice, love and unspeakable grief. . . what shines clear from the testimonies is love - love which can make you do the most spectacular things -- Sheena Patel * Observer *A beautifully written book, it's been years since I had to look away from a page because it was just too heart-breaking to go on. Give me beautiful prose and I'll follow you anywhere -- Arundhati Roy * Elle *A collage of oral testimony that turns into the psycho­biography of a nation not shown on any map... The book leaves radiation burns on the brain -- Julian Barnes * Guardian *Absolutely fantastic -- Karl Ove KnausgaardA searing mix of eloquence and wordlessness... From her interviewees' monologues she creates history that the reader, at whatever distance from the events, can actually touch -- Julian Evans * Daily Telegraph *One of the most humane and terrifying books I've ever read -- Helen Simpson * Observer *Alexievich's documentary approach makes the experiences vivid, sometimes almost unbearably so - but it's a remarkably democratic way of constructing a book... When you consider the extent to which she has been traversing the irradiated landscape, you realise she has put herself on the line in a way very few authors ever do -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *A moving piece of polyphony, skilfully assembled from what must have been a huge mass of material... We are living in Alexievich's 'age of disasters'. This haunting book offers us at least some ways of thinking about that predicament -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * New Statesman *This masterly new translation by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait retains the nerve and pulse of the Russian * TLS *Alexievich assembles the previously silenced or unsung heroes into a chorus that has the power to move, stun and inspire awe. The result is a remarkable oral history, an essential read -- Malcolm Forbes * Herald Scotland *Not merely a work of documentation but of excavation, of revealed meaning. It is hard to imagine how anyone in the West will read these cantos of loss and not feel a sense of communion, of a shared humanity -- Andrew Meier * The Nation *Alexievich serves no ideology, only an ideal: to listen closely enough to the ordinary voices of her time to orchestrate them into extraordinary books -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker *Alexievich has become one of my heroes -- Atul GawandeAwarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Svetlana Alexievich is a brilliant choice that recalibrates the status of "non-fiction" in the literary canon -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *Through her books and her life itself, Alexievich has gained probably the world's deepest, most eloquent understanding of the post-Soviet condition -- Masha Gessen * New Yorker *Alexievich retreats into the wings to let her subjects speak. But this is the art that conceals art. Her editor's flair for selection, contrast and emphasis, her almost cinematic touch with cuts, pans and close-ups, make her a documentary virtuoso -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator *Her interviews go on for hours. She goes back for more. She transcribes. She discards three-quarters of her material. She polishes. She takes pains to convey the cadence of a person's words. It shows. The distilled work goes deep into the subject. She is after the ephemeral; the emotion behind written history; the "history of the soul." Here, she believes, is where the truth lies -- Vanora Bennett * Prospect *This masterly new translation by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait retains the nerve and pulse of the Russian, conveying the angst and confusion of the narrators -- Serguei Alex. Oushakine * Times Literary Supplement *The last book that made me cry... incredible -- Joe Dunthorne * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisCommand and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a missile silo in rural Arkansas, where a single crew struggled to prevent the explosion of the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States, with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort to ensure that nuclear weapons can''t be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with men who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view.Trade ReviewSo damnably readable. It drives the vision of a world trembling on the edge of a fatal precipice deep into your mind ... a piece of work of the deepest import, with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *Do you really want to read about the thermonuclear warheads that are still aimed at the city where you live? Do you really need to know about the appalling security issues that have dogged nuclear weapons in the 70 years since their invention? Yes, you do. In Schlosser's hands it is a reading treat ... he's a natural genius -- Jonathan Franzen * Guardian, Books of the Year *Part techno-thriller, part careful historical investigation ... beautifully written and impressively researched -- Gerard DeGroot * Daily Telegraph *Brilliant, gripping, chilling -- Steven Shapin * London Review of Books *The author of Fast Food Nation does for the American nuclear industry what he did for industrial food production * Economist, Books of the Year *Eric Schlosser detonates a truth bomb in Command and Control * Vanity Fair *Deeply reported, deeply frightening . . . a techno-thriller of the first order * Los Angeles Times *An excellent journalistic investigation of the efforts made since the first atomic bomb was exploded, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, to put some kind of harness on nuclear weaponry. By a miracle of information management, Schlosser has synthesized a huge archive of material, including government reports, scientific papers, and a substantial historical and polemical literature on nukes, and transformed it into a crisp narrative covering more than fifty years of scientific and political change. And he has interwoven that narrative with a hair-raising, minute-by-minute account of an accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas, in 1980, which he renders in the manner of a techno-thriller . . . Command and Control is how nonfiction should be written -- Louis Menand * The New Yorker *A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. . . . fascinating -- Lev Grossman * Time *Command and Control ranks among the most nightmarish books written in recent years; and in that crowded company it bids fair to stand at the summit. It is the more horrific for being so incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable. Page after relentless page, it drives the vision of a world trembling on the edge of a fatal precipice deep into your reluctant mind . . . a work with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel . . . Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best when at full stretch: he has spent time - years - researching, interviewing, understanding and reflecting to give us a piece of work of the deepest import * Financial Times *Perilous and gripping . . . Schlosser skillfully weaves together an engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear weapons safety . . . The story of the missile silo accident unfolds with the pacing, thrill and techno details of an episode of 24 * San Francisco Chronicle *Disquieting but riveting . . . fascinating . . . Schlosser's readers (and he deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the people he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and nuclear war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to human wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly need many more of it in the years to come * New York Times Book Review *Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I've ever read, Schlosser's six-year investigation of America's 'broken arrows' (nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical-this stuff is top secret, after all-but the book is beyond relevant. It's critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on hair-trigger alert . . . Command and Control reads like a character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting, extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches, dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous occasions * Mother Jones *A powerful mix of history, politics, and technology, told with impressive authority * Independent *Eric Schlosser brings the investigative rigour of his big hit Fast Food Nation to this overview of our global nuclear arsenal * Herald *

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Book Synopsis*WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2018**WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE BOOK PRIZE 2019*''As moving as it is painstakingly researched. . . a cracking read'' Viv Groskop, Observer''A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic'' Hannah Betts, Daily TelegraphOn 26 April 1986 at 1.23am a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine exploded. While the authorities scrambled to understand what was occurring, workers, engineers, firefighters and those living in the area were abandoned to their fate. The blast put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, contaminating over half of Europe with radioactive fallout.In Chernobyl, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy draws on recently opened archives to recreate these events in all their drama. A moment by moment account of the heroes, perpetrators and victims of a trTrade ReviewAn insightful and important book, that often reads like a good thriller, and that exposes the danger of mixing powerful technology with irresponsible politics -- Yuval Noah Harari, author of SapiensAs moving as it is painstakingly researched, this book is a tour de force and a cracking read. . . Without losing any detail or nuance, Plokhy has a knack for making complicated things simple while still profound -- Viv Groskop * Observer *A work of deep scholarship and powerful stroytelling. Plokhy is the master of the telling detail -- Victor Sebestyen * Sunday Times *A compelling history of the 1986 disaster and its aftermath. . . Plokhy's well-paced narrative plunges the reader into the sweaty, nervous tension of the Chernobyl control room -- Daniel Beer * Guardian *The first comprehensive history of the Chernobyl disaster. . . here at last is the monumental history the disaster deserves -- Julie McDowall * The Times *Plokhy, a Harvard professor of Ukrainian background, is ideally placed to tell the harrowing story of Chernobyl. . . he has an immense knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history and maintains the highest standards of scholarship -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *A meticulous account of the disaster - and how the Soviet authorities tried to cover it up. . . A worthy winner of this year's Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction -- Robbie Millen * The Times Books of the Year *A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic -- Hannah Betts * Daily Telegraph *A masterful retelling. . . Mr Plokhy's book will endure as a definitive history * Economist *

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Book SynopsisCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY SUNDAY TIMES AND HISTORY TODAY''Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen'' Kai BirdBest-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . .In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe.As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.Trade ReviewA timely and enthralling study of the atomic age and its perils . . . a meticulously researched history -- Lawrence Freedman * Financial Times *A superbly crafted but enormously frightening history of nuclear disasters . . . without ever preaching, Plokhy constructs a formidable case for consigning nuclear power to the past -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *Plokhy's gripping, measured accounts of human error and staggering heroism in the face of the terrifying forces of nuclear power get under the skin -- Simon Ings * The Telegraph *Frightening . . . With catastrophic climate change bearing down on us, nuclear power has been promoted by some as an obvious solution, but this sobering history urges us to look hard at that bargain for what it is -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *A revealing tour of some of the most terrifying experiences involving nuclear power. Plokhy excels in unpacking the human and systemic factors that contribute to nuclear disasters * Nature *Gripping . . . Plokhy combines newspaper interviews, memoirs, government reports and secondary sources to give a vivid account of the perils of nuclear power * TLS *Expertly concise. . . this account of the downhill slide of atomic power since its heyday in the 1950s illustrates why it can never be the solution to global heating -- Robin McKie * Observer *Absolutely stunning. A formidable achievement. Plokhy has written a six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen. We have survived the Nuclear Age for three-quarters of a century, but this book calmly reminds us that accidents happen?and will surely happen again. His stories of nuclear accidents are riveting and frightening -- Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus

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Book SynopsisIn Atomic Blackmail? Simon Bennett examines the very real possibility of the ‘weaponisation’ of nuclear facilities during the Russia-Ukraine War. The War is being fought in proximity to nuclear facilities and working nuclear power stations, including the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Europe’s largest, and the decommissioned four-reactor Chernobyl NPP that, in 1986, suffered a catastrophic failure that released radioactive contamination across much of Europe. In 1985, foreign affairs and nuclear expert Bennett Ramberg published Nuclear Power Plants: An Unrecognised Military Peril. In his visionary discourse, Ramberg posited that in future wars, regional or global, nuclear facilities and powerplants might be weaponised to gain political traction over an opponent and neutralise opposing forces’ capacity for battlefield manoeuvre. While, at the time of writing Atomic Blackmail?, none of Ukraine’s fifteen reactors had been damaged in an exchange of fire, the possibility remains that this could happen during Ukraine’s 2023, and subsequent, offensives to expel Russian forces from sovereign Ukrainian territory. Though Ramberg’s nightmare vision of destroyed NPPs rendering a country uninhabitable has not, yet, been realised in the Russia-Ukraine War, the longer and more intense the conflict, the greater the likelihood that one or more of Ukraine’s NPPs will be damaged or, via a credible sabotage threat, used to leverage tactical or strategic advantage. Atomic blackmail finally exampled.

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Book SynopsisMore than a decade after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, what we are witnessing is not a Second Nuclear Age there is no post-atomic but an uncanny, quiet return of the nuclear threat that so vividly animated the Cold War era. The renewed threat of nuclear proliferation, public complacency regarding weapons stockpiles, and the lack of a single functioning long-term repository after seventy years and thousands of tonnes of nuclear waste reveals the industry's capacity for self-reinvention abetted by an ever-present capacity to forget. More than fabulously textual, as Jacques Derrida described it, the protean, unbound, and unending materiality of the nuclear is here to stay: resistance is crucial.Toxic Immanence introduces contemporary interdisciplinary perspectives that resist and decolonize the nuclear. Contributors highlight the prevalence and irrationality of slow violence and colonial governance as elements of the contemporary nuclear age. They propose a reaTrade Review“The first major collection of scholarship on nuclear energy humanities, …Toxic Immanence succeeds in setting the contours for a precise sector of study, while also bridging it to the well-established academic disciplines of environmental humanities, gender and sexuality studies, and critical Anthropocene studies, to name only a few.” H-Environment“Toxic Immanence succeeds in setting the contours for a precise sector of study, while also bridging it to the well-established academic disciplines of environmental humanities, gender and sexuality studies, and critical Anthropocene studies, to name only a few.” H-Environment

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Book SynopsisModern societies require energy systems to provide energy for cooking, heating, transport, and materials processing, as well as for electricity generation. Energy systems include the primary fuel, its conversion, and transport to the point of use. In many cases this primary fuel is still a fossil fuel, a one-use resource derived from a finite supply within our planet, causing considerable damage to the environment. After 300 years of increasing reliance on fossil fuels, particularly coal, it is becoming ever clearer that the present energy systems need to change. In this Very Short Introduction Nick Jenkins explores our historic investment in the exploitation of fossil energy resources and their current importance, and discusses the implications of our increasing rate of energy use. He considers the widespread acceptance by scientists and policy makers that our energy systems must reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and looks forward to the radical changes in fuel technology that will be necessary to continue to provide energy supplies in a sustainable manner, and extend access across the developing world. Considering the impact of changing to an environmentally benign and low-carbon energy system, Jenkins also looks at future low-carbon energy systems which would use electricity from a variety of renewable energy sources, as well as the role of nuclear power in our energy use.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Energy systems 2: Fossil fuels 3: Electricity systems 4: Nuclear power 5: Renewable energy systems 6: Future energy systems Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisAt a moment when a new generation of power stations and weapons are being developed, Fallout is a measured and fascinating exploration of our most misunderstood energy source and asks: what can we learn from our past mistakes, and what role should nuclear play in our future? Hiroshima. Bikini Atoll. Windscale. Chernobyl. Fukushima. These names no longer denote a place, but a disaster. In a few syllables, they evoke the heights of human ingenuity clashing with the worst of human error. Individually, each place has its own sobering story to tell; together, they form a timeline of the nuclear age. In this compelling and deeply researched book, Fred Pearce investigates the greatest nuclear incidents and accidents of the past 80 years by visiting their now iconic landscapes. He tours former power stations and abandoned testing sites in the company of scientists and engineers, and in previously toxic wastelands, where radioactive wolves now stalk the streets and genetically-malformed flora blooms, he witnesses the surprising resilience of nature. As well as the physical legacy, Pearce also considers the psychological impact of these disasters. Amid rumours of state cover-ups, corporate deception, and hushed-up medical epidemics, Pearce weighs the evidence on either side of the argument to disentangle the facts from the fear.

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Book SynopsisA practical guide to the basic physics that radiation protection professionals need A much-needed working resource for health physicists and other radiation protection professionals, this volume presents clear, thorough, up-to-date explanations of the basic physics necessary to address real-world problems in radiation protection. Designed for readers with limited as well as basic science backgrounds, Physics for Radiation Protection emphasizes applied concepts and carefully illustrates all topics through examples as well as practice problems. Physics for Radiation Protection draws substantially on current resource data available for health physics use, providing decay schemes and emission energies for approximately 100 of the most common radionuclides encountered by practitioners. Excerpts of the Chart of the Nuclides, activation cross sections, fission yields, fission-product chains, photon attenuation coefficients, and nuclear masses are also provided. Coverage includes: The atom as an energy system An overview of the major discoveries in radiation physics Extensive discussion of radioactivity, including sources and materials Nuclear interactions and processes of radiation dose Calculational methods for radiation exposure, dose, and shielding Nuclear fission and production of activation and fission products Specialty topics ranging from nuclear criticality and applied statistics to X rays Extensive and current resource data cross-referenced to standard compendiums Extensive appendices and more than 400 figures This complete discussion of the basic concepts allows readers to advance their professional skills.Trade Review“The book is intended as a comprehensive treatise about all the physics aspects upon which radiation protection is based.” (Health Physics, 1 March 2014) “A highly practical resource for health physicists and other professionals in radiation protection.” (ETDE Energy Database, 1 October 2013)Table of ContentsPreface xvii 1 Structure of Atoms 1 1.1 Atom Constituents 2 1.2 Structure, Identity, and Stability of Atoms 5 1.3 Chart of the Nuclides 6 1.4 Nuclear Models 8 Problems – Chapter 1 9 2 Atoms and Energy 11 2.1 Atom Measures 12 2.2 Energy Concepts for Atoms 14 2.2.1 Mass-energy 15 2.2.2 Binding Energy of Nuclei 16 2.3 Summary 18 Other Suggested Sources 18 Problems – Chapter 2 19 3 Radioactive Transformation 21 3.1 Processes of Radioactive Transformation 21 3.1.1 Transformation of Neutron-rich Radioactive Nuclei 23 3.1.2 Double Beta (ββ) Transformation 27 3.1.3 Transformation of Proton-rich Nuclei 27 3.1.4 Positron Emission 29 3.1.5 Average Energy of Negatron and Positron Emitters 32 3.1.6 Electron Capture (EC) 33 3.1.7 Radioactive Transformation of Heavy Nuclei by Alpha Particle Emission 35 3.1.8 Theory of Alpha Particle Transformation 38 3.1.9 Transuranic (TRU) Radionuclides 40 3.1.10 Gamma Emission 41 3.1.11 Internal Transition (Metastable or Isomeric States) 42 3.1.12 Internal Conversion 43 3.1.13 Multiple Modes of Radioactive Transformation 49 3.1.14 Transformation by Delayed Neutron Emission 51 3.1.15 Transformation by Spontaneous Fission 51 3.1.16 Proton Emission 53 3.2 Decay Schemes 54 3.3 Rate of Radioactive Transformation 57 3.3.1 Activity 58 3.3.2 Units of Radioactive Transformation 58 3.3.3 Mathematics of Radioactive Transformation 60 3.3.4 Half-Life 62 3.3.5 Mean Life 63 3.3.6 Effective Half-life 64 3.4 Radioactivity Calculations 65 3.4.1 Half-life Determination 68 3.5 Activity–mass Relationships 70 3.5.1 Specific Activity 70 3.6 Radioactive Series Transformation 73 3.6.1 Series Decay Calculations 73 3.6.2 Recursive Kinetics: the Bateman Equations 76 3.7 Radioactive Equilibrium 77 3.7.1 Secular Equilibrium 78 3.7.2 Transient Equilibrium 80 3.7.3 Radionuclide Generators 81 3.8 Total Number of Transformations (Uses of t and λEff) 84 3.9 Discovery of the Neutrino 86 Acknowledgments 87 Other Suggested Sources 87 Problems – Chapter 3 88 4 Interactions 91 4.1 Production of X-rays 91 4.2 Characteristic X-rays 93 4.2.1 X-rays and Atomic Structure 95 4.2.2 Auger Electrons 96 4.3 Nuclear Interactions 98 4.3.1 Cross-Section 100 4.3.2 Q-values for Nuclear Reactions 102 4.4 Alpha Particle Interactions 104 4.4.1 Alpha–Neutron Reactions 105 4.5 Transmutation by Protons and Deuterons 106 4.5.1 Proton–Alpha Particle (p,α) Reactions 108 4.5.2 Proton–Neutron (p,n) Reactions 109 4.5.3 Proton–Gamma (p,γ) Reactions 110 4.5.4 Proton–Deuteron Reactions 110 4.5.5 Deuteron–Alpha (d,α) Reactions 111 4.5.6 Deuteron–Proton (d,p) and Deuteron–Neutron (d,n) Reactions 111 4.6 Neutron Interactions 114 4.6.1 Radiative Capture (n,γ) Reactions 114 4.6.2 Charged Particle Emission (CPE) 115 4.6.3 Neutron–Proton (n,p) Reactions 116 4.6.4 Neutron–Neutron (n,2n) Reactions 116 4.7 Activation Product Calculations 117 4.7.1 Neutron Activation Product Calculations 119 4.7.2 Charged Particles Calculations 124 4.8 Medical Isotope Reactions 126 4.9 Transuranium Elements 128 4.10 Photon Interactions 130 4.10.1 Activation by Photons 130 4.11 Fission and Fusion Reactions 133 4.11.1 Fission 133 4.11.2 Fusion 134 4.12 Summary 138 Other Suggested Sources 139 Problems – Chapter 4 139 5 Nuclear Fission and its Products 143 5.1 Fission Energy 145 5.2 Physics of Sustained Nuclear Fission 147 5.3 Neutron Economy and Reactivity 152 5.4 Nuclear Power Reactors 154 5.4.1 Reactor Design: Basic Systems 155 5.5 Light Water Reactors (LWRs) 157 5.5.1 Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) 157 5.5.2 Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) 159 5.5.3 Inherent Safety Features of LWRs 161 5.5.4 Decay Heat in Power Reactors 163 5.5.5 Uranium Enrichment 164 5.6 Heavy Water Reactors (HWRs) 165 5.6.1 HWR Safety Systems 168 5.7 Breeder Reactors 169 5.7.1 Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) 171 5.8 Gas-cooled Reactors 174 5.8.1 High-temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) 175 5.9 Reactor Radioactivity 176 5.9.1 Fuel Cladding 177 5.9.2 Radioactive Products of Fission 178 5.9.3 Production of Individual Fission Products 182 5.9.4 Fission Products in Spent Fuel 184 5.9.5 Fission Product Poisons 185 5.10 Radioactivity in Reactors 188 5.10.1 Activation Products in Nuclear Reactors 188 5.10.2 Tritium Production in Reactors 191 5.10.3 Low-level Radioactive Waste 192 5.11 Summary 193 Acknowledgments 194 Other Suggested Sources 195 Problems – Chapter 5 195 6 Naturally Occurring Radiation and Radioactivity 197 6.1 Discovery and Interpretation 197 6.2 Background Radiation 199 6.3 Cosmic Radiation 200 6.4 Cosmogenic Radionuclides 203 6.5 Naturally Radioacitve Series 207 6.5.1 Neptunium Series Radionuclides 214 6.6 Singly Occurring Primordial Radionuclides 214 6.7 Radioactive Ores and Byproducts 216 6.7.1 Resource Recovery 218 6.7.2 Uranium Ores 218 6.7.3 Water Treatment Sludge 219 6.7.4 Phosphate Industry Wastes 219 6.7.5 Elemental Phosphorus 220 6.7.6 Manhattan Project Wastes 221 6.7.7 Thorium Ores 223 6.8 Radioactivity Dating 224 6.8.1 Carbon Dating 224 6.8.2 Dating by Primordial Radionuclides 225 6.8.3 Potassium–Argon Dating 226 6.8.4 Ionium (230Th) Method 227 6.8.5 Lead-210 Dating 227 6.9 Radon and its Progeny 228 6.9.1 Radon Subseries 229 6.9.2 Working Level for Radon Progeny 232 6.9.3 Measurement of Radon 236 6.10 Summary 240 Acknowledgements 241 Other Suggested Sources 241 Problems – Chapter 6 242 7 Interactions of Radiation with Matter 245 7.1 Radiation Dose and Units 245 7.1.1 Radiation Absorbed Dose 246 7.1.2 Radiation Dose Equivalent 246 7.1.3 Radiation Exposure 247 7.2 Radiation Dose Calculations 249 7.2.1 Inverse Square Law 249 7.3 Interaction Processes 250 7.4 Interactions of Alpha Particles and Heavy Nuclei 252 7.4.1 Recoil Nuclei and Fission Fragments 254 7.4.2 Range of Alpha Particles 254 7.5 Beta Particle Interactions and Dose 257 7.5.1 Energy Loss by Ionization 258 7.5.2 Energy Losses by Bremsstrahlung 258 7.5.3 Cerenkov Radiation 259 7.5.4 Attenuation of Beta Particles 261 7.5.5 Range Versus Energy of Beta Particles 262 7.5.6 Radiation Dose from Beta Particles 264 7.5.7 Beta Dose from Contaminated Surfaces 267 7.5.8 Beta Contamination on Skin or Clothing 268 7.5.9 Beta Dose from Hot Particles 269 7.6 Photon Interactions 270 7.6.1 Photoelectric Interactions 271 7.6.2 Compton Interactions 272 7.6.3 Pair Production 274 7.6.4 Photodisintegration 276 7.7 Photon Attenuation and Absorption 277 7.7.1 Attenuation (μ) and Energy Absorption (μEn) Coefficients 280 7.7.2 Effect of E and Z on Photon Attenuation/Absorption 284 7.7.3 Absorption Edges 286 Checkpoints 288 7.8 Energy Transfer and Absorption by Photons 288 7.8.1 Electronic Equilibrium 293 7.8.2 Bragg–Gray Theory 295 7.9 Exposure/Dose Calculations 296 7.9.1 Point Sources 297 7.9.2 Gamma Ray Constant, Γ 298 7.9.3 Exposure and Absorbed Dose 300 7.9.4 Exposure, Kerma, and Absorbed Dose 301 7.10 Summary 303 Acknowledgments 303 Other Suggested Sources 304 Problems – Chapter 7 304 8 Radiation Shielding 307 8.1 Shielding of Alpha-Emitting Sources 307 8.2 Shielding of Beta-Emitting Sources 308 8.2.1 Attenuation of Beta Particles 308 8.2.2 Bremsstrahlung Effects for Beta Shielding 311 8.3 Shielding of Photon Sources 314 8.3.1 Shielding of Good Geometry Photon Sources 315 8.3.2 Half-Value and Tenth-Value Layers 322 8.3.3 Shielding of Poor Geometry Photon Sources 324 8.3.4 Use of Buildup Factors 330 8.3.5 Effect of Buildup on Shield Thickness 331 8.3.6 Mathematical Formulations of the Buildup Factor 333 8.4 Gamma Flux for Distributed Sources 338 8.4.1 Line Sources 339 8.4.2 Ring Sources 341 8.4.3 Disc and Planar Sources 342 8.4.4 Shield Designs for Area Sources 343 8.4.5 Gamma Exposure from Thick Slabs 350 8.4.6 Volume Sources 355 8.4.7 Buildup Factors for Layered Absorbers 356 8.5 Shielding of Protons and Light Ions 357 8.6 Summary 360 Acknowledgments 360 Other Suggested Sources 361 Problems – Chapter 8 361 9 Internal Radiation Dose 365 9.1 Absorbed Dose in Tissue 365 9.2 Accumulated Dose 366 9.2.1 Internal Dose: Medical Uses 369 Checkpoints 369 9.3 Factors In The Internal Dose Equation 370 9.3.1 The Dose Reciprocity Theorem 377 9.3.2 Deposition and Clearance Data 378 9.3.3 Multicompartment Retention 378 9.4 Radiation Dose from Radionuclide Intakes 383 9.4.1 Risk-Based Radiation Standards 384 9.4.2 Committed Effective Dose Equivalent (CEDE) 385 9.4.3 Biokinetic Models: Risk-Based Internal Dosimetry 386 9.4.4 Radiation Doses Due to Inhaled Radionuclides 388 9.4.5 Radiation Doses Due to Ingested Radionuclides 398 9.5 Operational Determinations of Internal Dose 405 9.5.1 Submersion Dose 406 Checkpoints 406 9.6 Tritium: a Special Case 408 9.6.1 Bioassay of Tritium: a Special Case 410 9.7 Summary 411 Other Suggested Sources 412 Problems – Chapter 9 412 10 Environmental Dispersion 415 10.1 Atmospheric Dispersion 417 10.1.1 Atmospheric Stability Effects on Dispersion 420 10.1.2 Atmospheric Stability Classes 422 10.1.3 Calculational Procedure: Uniform Stability Conditions 424 10.1.4 Distance xmax of Maximum Concentration (Xmax) 426 10.1.5 Stack Effects 427 Checkpoints 429 10.2 Nonuniform turbulence: Fumigation, Building Effects 429 10.2.1 Fumigation 429 10.2.2 Dispersion for an Elevated Receptor 431 10.2.3 Building Wake Effects: Mechanical Turbulence 432 10.2.4 Concentrations of Effluents in Building Wakes 433 10.2.5 Ground-level Area Sources 435 10.2.6 Effect of Mechanical Turbulence on Far-field Diffusion 436 10.3 Puff Releases 438 10.4 Sector-Averaged X/Q Values 439 10.5 Deposition/Depletion: Guassian Plumes 443 10.5.1 Dry Deposition 443 10.5.2 Air Concentration Due to Resuspension 447 10.5.3 Wet Deposition 449 10.6 Summary 452 Other Suggested Sources 452 Problems – Chapter 10 453 11 Nuclear Criticality 455 11.1 Nuclear Reactors and Criticality 456 11.1.1 Three Mile Island Accident 456 11.1.2 Chernobyl Accident 458 11.1.3 NRX Reactor: Chalk River, Ontario, December 1952 461 11.1.4 SL-1 Accident 461 11.1.5 K-reactor, Savannah River Site, 1988 462 11.1.6 Fukushima-Daichi Plant—Japan, March 11, 2011 463 11.2 Nuclear Explosions 464 11.2.1 Fission Weapons 464 11.2.2 Fusion Weapons 465 11.2.3 Products of Nuclear Explosions 466 11.2.4 Fission Product Activity and Exposure 467 Checkpoints 469 11.3 Criticality Accidents 470 11.3.1 Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN: June 16, 1958 470 11.3.2 Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, NM: December 30, 1958 471 11.3.3 Idaho Chemical Processing Plant: October 16, 1959, January 25, 1961, and October 17, 1978 472 11.3.4 Hanford Recuplex Plant: April 7, 1962 473 11.3.5 Wood River Junction RI: July 24, 1964 473 11.3.6 UKAEA Windscale Works, UK: August 24, 1970 474 11.3.7 Bare and Reflected Metal Assemblies 474 11.4 Radiation Exposures in Criticality Events 475 11.5 Criticality Safety 476 11.5.1 Criticality Safety Parameters 478 11.6 Fission Product Release in Criticality Events 482 11.6.1 Fast Fission in Criticality Events 483 11.7 Summary 485 Acknowledgments 486 Other Suggested Sources 486 Problems – Chapter 11 486 12 Radiation Detection and Measurement 489 12.1 Gas-Filled Detectors 489 12.2 Crystalline Detectors/Spectrometers 493 12.3 Semiconducting Detectors 494 12.4 Gamma Spectroscopy 495 12.4.1 Gamma-Ray Spectra: hv ≤ 1.022 MeV 495 12.4.2 Gamma-Ray Spectra: hv ≥ 1.022 MeV 500 12.4.3 Escape Peaks and Sum Peaks 502 12.4.4 Gamma Spectroscopy of Positron Emitters 503 12.5 Portable Field Instruments 504 12.5.1 Geiger Counters 504 12.5.2 Ion Chambers 505 12.5.3 Microrem Meters 506 12.5.4 Alpha Radiation Monitoring 506 12.5.5 Beta Radiation Surveys 507 12.5.6 Removable Radioactive Surface Contamination 508 12.5.7 Instrument Calibration 509 12.6 Personnel Dosimeters 509 12.6.1 Film Badges 509 12.6.2 Thermoluminescence Dosimeters (TLDs) 510 12.6.3 Pocket Dosimeters 511 12.7 Laboratory Instruments 511 12.7.1 Liquid Scintillation Analysis 511 12.7.2 Proportional Counters 515 12.7.3 End-window GM Counters 517 12.7.4 Surface Barrier Detectors 518 12.7.5 Range Versus Energy of Beta Particles 519 Other Suggested Sources 520 Problems – Chapter 12 521 13 Statistics in Radiation Physics 523 13.1 Nature of Counting Distributions 523 13.1.1 Binomial Distribution 525 13.1.2 Poisson Distribution 525 13.1.3 Normal Distribution 527 13.1.4 Mean and Standard Deviation of a Set of Measurements 530 13.1.5 Uncertainty in the Activity of a Radioactive Source 531 13.1.6 Uncertainty in a Single Measurement 533 Checkpoints 533 13.2 Propagation of Error 534 13.2.1 Statistical Subtraction of a Background Count or Count Rate 535 13.2.2 Error Propagation of Several Uncertain Parameters 537 13.3 Comparison of Data Sets 538 13.3.1 Are Two Measurements Different? 538 13.4 Statistics for the Counting Laboratory 541 13.4.1 Uncertainty of a Radioactivity Measurement 541 13.4.2 Determining a Count Time 542 13.4.3 Efficient Distribution of Counting Time 544 13.4.4 Detection and Uncertainty for Gamma Spectroscopy 545 13.4.5 Testing the Distribution of a Series of Counts (the Chi-square Statistic) 547 13.4.6 Weighted Sample Mean 548 13.4.7 Rejection of Data 549 13.5 Levels of Detection 551 13.5.1 Critical Level 552 13.5.2 Detection Limit (Ld) or Lower Level of Detection (LLD) 554 13.6 Minimum Detectable Concentration or Contamination 558 13.6.1 Minimum Detectable Concentration (MDConc.) 558 13.6.2 Minimum Detectable Contamination (MDCont.) 560 13.6.3 Less-than Level (Lt) 561 13.6.4 Interpretations and Restrictions 561 13.7 Log Normal Data Distributions 562 13.7.1 Particle Size Analysis 565 Acknowledgment 569 Other Suggested Sources 569 Chapter 13 – Problems 569 14 Neutrons 571 14.1 Neutron Sources 571 14.2 Neutron Parameters 573 14.3 Neutron Interactions 575 14.3.1 Neutron Attenuation and Absorption 576 14.4 Neutron Dosimetry 578 14.4.1 Dosimetry for Fast Neutrons 581 14.4.2 Dose from Thermal Neutrons 583 14.4.3 Monte Carlo Calculations of Neutron Dose 585 14.4.4 Kerma for Neutrons 588 14.4.5 Dose Equivalent Versus Neutron Flux 588 14.4.6 Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) 591 14.5 Neutron Shielding 591 14.5.1 Neutron Shielding Materials 591 14.5.2 Neutron Shielding Calculations 593 14.5.3 Neutron Removal Coefficients 594 14.5.4 Neutron Attenuation in Concrete 597 14.6 Neutron Detection 598 14.6.1 Measurement of Thermal Neutrons 599 14.6.2 Measurement of Intermediate and Fast Neutrons 600 14.6.3 Neutron Foils 602 14.6.4 Albedo Dosimeters 604 14.6.5 Flux Depression of Neutrons 604 14.7 Summary 605 Acknowledgment 605 Other Suggested Sources 605 Problems – Chapter 14 606 Answers to Selected Problems 607 Appendix A 613 Appendix B 615 Appendix C 625 Appendix D 629 Index 657

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Trade ReviewAn accessible text with a strong structure that provides a launch pad for further exploration. * Murray Collins, London School of Economics (LSE) *Table of ContentsContents ; Preface ; Acknowledgements ; 1. Fundamentals ; What is energy, and what is power? ; Is most energy that people use derived from nuclear energy? ; What is the origin of nuclear energy? ; What is radioactivity? ; Why is ionizing radiation a health concern? ; What is radioactive half-life, and how can knowing it help increase countries' security? ; How much more energetic is nuclear energy compared to chemical energy? ; Why has it been so difficult to commercialize nuclear fusion? ; How was nuclear fission discovered? ; What role, if any, did Albert Einstein play in the discovery of nuclear energy? ; What is a fission chain reaction? ; What is uranium, where did it come from, and how was it discovered? ; What is plutonium, how was it discovered, and how hazardous is it? ; Why can't nuclear reactors explode like a nuclear bomb? ; What is the nuclear fuel cycle? ; Why are certain activities in the nuclear fuel cycle called <"dual-use>"? ; What are the various uranium enrichment methods? ; What are the nuclear

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Book SynopsisA study of the nuclear theme in Japanese intellectual and artistic life, recounting the history of Japanese public discourse around Hiroshima and Nagasaki from August 6, 1945, to the present day. It studies works from the earliest survivor writers up to Japanese intellectuals writing today.Table of ContentsAtrocity into words; genre and post-Hiroshima representation; the three debates; Hara Tamiki and the documentary fallacy; poetry against itself; Ota Yoko and the place of the narrator; Oe Kenzaburo - humanism and Hiroshima; Ibuse Masuji - nature, nostalgia, memory; Nagasaki and the human future; the atomic, the nuclear, and the total - Oda Makoto.

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Book SynopsisWith the World desperate to find energy sources that do not emit carbon gasses, nuclear power is back on the agenda and in the news, following the increasing cost of fossil fuels and concerns about the security of their future supply. However, the term ''nuclear power'' causes anxiety in many people and there is confusion concerning the nature and extent of the associated risks. Here, Maxwell Irvine presents a concise introduction to the development of nuclear physics leading up to the emergence of the nuclear power industry. He discusses the nature of nuclear energy and deals with various aspects of public concern, considering the risks of nuclear safety, the cost of its development, and waste disposal. Dispelling some of the widespread confusion about nuclear energy, Irvine considers the relevance of nuclear power, the potential of nuclear fusion, and encourages informed debate about its potential.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Reviewhere's your chance to become an instant expert * The Times *Table of Contents1. A new science is born ; 2. A new technology is developed ; 3. Thermal nuclear reactors ; 4. Nuclear fuel reprocessing and radioactive waste management ; 5. Nuclear safety ; 6. The cost of nuclear power ; 7. Nuclear fusion power ; 8. The need for nuclear power ; Appendix

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisNuclear power is not an option for the future but an absolute necessity. Global threats of climate change and lethal air pollution, killing millions each year, make it clear that nuclear and renewable energy must work together, as non-carbon sources of energy. Fortunately, a new era of growth in this energy source is underway in developing nations, though not yet in the West. Seeing the Light is the first book to clarify these realities and discuss their implications for coming decades. Readers will learn how, why, and where the new nuclear era is happening, what new technologies are involved, and what this means for preventing the proliferation of weapons. This book is the best work available for becoming fully informed about this key subject, for students, the general public, and anyone interested in the future of energy production, and, thus, the future of humanity on planet Earth.Trade Review'This is an accessible and well-written book that could not be more timely. Much current campaigning gives the impression that renewable sources are the full answer to the world's needs for climate safe energy. The balanced discussion in this book shows us the great environmental benefit of today's nuclear power and the potential for development and expanded use. It merits broad reading by anyone interested in the future of energy generation, from the general public to students and scientists to policymakers.' Hans Blix, Director General Emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency'This vitally important book counters nuclear fear with deep knowledge and honest good will. It is by far the best book on the subject yet written. We need its authoritative perspective for the difficult transition we face today away from carbon energy.' Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize recipient for The Making of the Atomic BombTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. Why nuclear and why now?; 2. How it began: weapons and their legacy; 3. What is nuclear energy? Some helpful background; 4. Nuclear energy for public power: history and limits; 5. Radiation: a guide for the perplexed; 6. Chernobyl and Fukushima: the meaning and legacy of accidents; 7. Godzilla's children: origins of nuclear anxiety; 8. Why not nuclear: points and counterpoints; 9. Global energy and nuclear power: the next 30 years; 10. The new context: climate change realities; 11. Launching a new nuclear power state: the United Arab Emirates; 12. Non-proliferation: preventing the spread of weapons; 13. Conclusion: is nuclear power essential?; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a comprehensive compilation of reports, correspondence and other publications on Ukraine. Some of the issues discussed include: U.S. Policy; The Conflict with Russia; The Presidential Election; The Whistleblower Complaint; Atomic Energy.Table of ContentsPreface; Europe: Ukraine; Ukraine: Background, Conflict with Russia, and U.S. Policy; Ukraine: Report from the Front Lines; Ending the War in Ukraine: Kurt Volker, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations; Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Ukraine; Russian Influence and Unconventional Warfare Operations in the Gray Zone: Lessons from Ukraine; Defense Cooperation Agreement between the United States of America and Ukraine; Ukraines Presidential Election: A Preview; Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine; Whistleblower Complaint of August 12, 2019; Atomic Energy: Nuclear Safety Arrangement between the United States of America and Ukraine; High Crimes and Pipelines: Curbing Corruption in Ukraines Energy Sector; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Bush Administration has pursued several avenues to attempt to contain or end the potential threat posed by Iran, at times pursuing limited engagement, and at other times leaning toward pursuing efforts to change Iran''s regime. Some experts believe a potential crisis is looming over Iran''s nuclear program because the Bush Administration is sceptical that efforts by several European allies to prevent a nuclear breakout by Iran will succeed, although the Administration announced steps in March 2005 to support those talks. U.S. concerns have been heightened by the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an admitted hardliner, in Iran''s presidential election on June 24, 2005. Some advocate military action against Iran''s nuclear infrastructure, but others believe that a combination of diplomatic and economic rewards and punishment are the only viable options on the nuclear issue. U.S. sanctions currently in effect ban or strictly limit U.S. trade, aid, and investment in Iran and penalise foreign firms that invest in Iran''s energy sector, but unilateral U.S. sanctions do not appear to have materially slowed Iran''s WMD programs to date. Other major U.S. concerns include Iran''s policy in the Near East region, particularly Iran''s material support to groups that use violence against the U.S.-led Middle East peace process, including Hizballah in Lebanon and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Some senior Al Qaeda activists are in Iran as well, although Iran claims they are "in custody" and will be tried. Iran did not obstruct the U.S. effort to oust Iraq''s Saddam Hussein, a long-time Tehran adversary, at least partly in the expectation that pro-Iranian Shiite Islamic factions would come to power in Iraq in the aftermath. That result occurred as a product of 30 January 2005 elections there. Iran is also assisting pro-Iranian local leaders in Afghanistan, although that support does not appear to be materially hindering the stabilisation and development of Afghanistan. Iran''s human rights practices and strict limits on democracy have been consistently criticised by official U.S. and U.N. reports, particularly for Iran''s suppression of political dissidents and religious and ethnic minorities. New limits on personal freedoms could be imposed by Ahmadinejad, who has consistently advocated a return to many of the original principles of the Islamic revolution as set down by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. However, Iran does hold elections for some positions, including that of president, suggesting to some experts that there might be benefits to engaging Iranian officials. According to this view, new sanctions or military action could harden Iran''s positions without necessarily easing the potential threat posed by Iran.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents and reviews the current nuclear ambitions and issues of several Middle Eastern countries such as: Iran, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and India. This book provides background information on the nuclear programs of these countries, reviews developments to date, analyses proposed nuclear co-operation with the U.S. and discusses relevant legislative proposals and options.

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Book SynopsisAlmost 30 years ago, Congress addressed increasing concerns regarding the management of the nation''s growing stockpile of nuclear waste by calling for the federal collection of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) for safe, permanent disposal. Passed in 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) was an effort to establish an explicit statutory basis for the Department of Energy (DOE) to dispose of the nation''s most highly radioactive nuclear waste. The NWPA requires DOE to remove spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants, in exchange for a fee, and transport it to a permanent geologic repository or an interim storage facility before permanent disposal. This book explores the effects of a termination of the Yucca Mountain Repository Program with a focus on the need for a comprehensive DOE strategy that supports environmental cleanup decisions.

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Book SynopsisWeapons of mass destruction (WMD), especially in the hands of radical states and terrorists, represent a major threat to U.S. national security interests. Multilateral regimes were established to restrict trade in nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missile technologies, and to monitor their civil applications. Congress may consider the efficacy of these regimes in considering the potential renewal of the Export Administration Act, as well as other proliferation-specific legislation in the 111th Congress. This book provides background and current status information on nuclear non-proliferation regimes which encompass several treaties, extensive multilateral and bilateral diplomatic agreements, multilateral organisations and domestic agencies, and the domestic laws of participating countries.

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Book SynopsisRadioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material and are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to human health and the environment and is regulated by government agencies. This book presents topical research in the study of the sources, types and management of radioactive waste, including DMNR real-time online monitoring of short and medium term radioactive waste; radioactive waste from research reactor operation and decommissioning; treatment of high-level radioactive waste arising from pyroprocessing and its waste form and highly radioactive waste disposal.

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Book SynopsisLittle is known about lithium-7 production in China and Russia and whether their supplies can meet future domestic demand. According to industry representatives, China and Russia produce enough lithium-7 to meet demand from U.S. pressurised water reactors, a type of commercial nuclear power reactor that requires lithium-7 for safe operation. This book examines what is known about the supply and demand of lithium-7, what federal agencies are responsible for managing supply risks, and alternative options to mitigate a potential shortage. The authors of this book also discuss the management of helium-3 and the availability of tritium for the weapons stockpile to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

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Book SynopsisThe United States (US) program for siting interim storage and permanent disposal facilities for used nuclear fuel (UNF) is at a crossroads. The March 2010 request by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for termination of the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) license application, followed one year later by the disastrous nuclear events in Fukushima, Japan, have resulted in a fundamental reconsideration of approaches for siting interim and permanent UNF management facilities in the US. This book provides findings from a set of social science studies undertaken by the Center for Risk and Crisis Management (CRCM) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), which focus on public attitudes and preferences concerning the siting of nuclear repositories and interim storage facilities. This book is also a framework for moving toward a sustainable program to deploy an integrated system capable of transporting, storing, and disposing of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power generation, defence, national security and other activities.

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Book SynopsisThe March 2011 accident at Japan''s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant led to a worldwide review of nuclear power programs. NRC licenses and oversees civilian nuclear reactors. The State Department coordinates policy matters with international organisations and treaties, including those dealing with nuclear safety. This book examines the actions nuclear regulatory bodies from selected countries have taken to strengthen nuclear safety; the extent to which these countries have established automated systems to collect and transmit accident data; and steps international organisations have taken to support nuclear regulatory bodies and promote nuclear safety worldwide since the accident.

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Book SynopsisThe United States and its allies are in a complex nuclear age, with potential adversaries modernising their arsenals, new nuclear technologies emerging, and potential new proliferants -- as well as regional challenges -- raising significant concerns. Nuclear forces provide the ultimate guarantee against major war and coercion, serving both to deter the use of weapons and to support nonproliferation initiatives. This book summarises the findings of a Congressional Advisory Panel on the current health of the nuclear security enterprise, examines the root causes of its governance challenges, and offers recommendations to address the identified problems. Furthermore, the book addresses how the Nuclear Weapons Council (Council) carries out its statutory and regulatory responsibilities and any challenges it faces in doing so and the extent to which the Council''s actions are consistent with key practices for interagency collaboration.

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Book SynopsisSince 2011, the German government has been implementing a policy phasing out nuclear power. Over a period of seven years, Bernhard Ludewig photographed the country’s atomic landscape and history, keeping a visual record of the buildings and the work performed in them. The images, collected here, create a unique panorama of usually inaccessible spaces. On show are the plants’ operations – processes including the opening of the reactor and the loading of Castor containers for transport – and interiors, such as control rooms and cooling towers. The book follows the journey of uranium from enrichment through reprocessing to final storage, and shows research spanning from ­Otto Hahn’s discovery of fission to thorium and breeder reactor prototypes. In total 55 sites are represented, and im­ages of research reactors, training facilities, and ­Chernobyl’s sarcophagus provide a further look behind closed door. The Nuclear Dream offers an insight into a disappearing world whose rooms and technology ­often appear sacred. It is a fitting tribute to an era of boundless energy – one whose blue glow captured a generation and proclaimed the start of a new era.

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Book SynopsisHow did Andrei Sakharov, a theoretical physicist and the acknowledged father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, become a human rights activist and the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize? In his later years, Sakharov noted in his diary that he was simply a man with an unusual fate. To understand this deceptively straightforward statement by an extraordinary man, The World of Andrei Sakharov, the first authoritative study of Andrei Sakharov as a scientist as well as a public figure, relies on previously inaccessible documents, recently declassified archives, and personal accounts by Sakharov''s friends and colleagues to examine the real context of Sakharov''s life. In the course of doing so, Gennady Gorelik answers a fascinating question, whether the Soviet hydrogen bomb was really fathered by Sakharov, or whether it was based on stolen American secrets. Gorelik concludes that while espionage did initiate the Soviet effort, the Russian hydrogen bomb was invented independently. GorelikTrade ReviewWith its wider perspectives on the institutions and realities of Sakharov's age, this book should take a rightful place...among front displays of books about science, public policy and society...Through the example of the Soviet Union and its dissident hero Andrei Sakharov, Gorelik and Bouis have made an invaluable contribution to the universal conversation about morality and science. * The Moscow Times *Table of ContentsPart I: From Tsarist Russia to the Tsardom of Soviet Physics 1: The Emergence of Soviet Physics and the Birth of FIAN 2: Leonid Mandelshtam: The Teacher and His School 3: The Year 1937 Part II: Intra-Atomic, Nuclear, and Thermonuclear 4: The Moral Underpinnings of the Soviet Atomic Project 5: Andrei Sakharov, Tamm's Graduate Student 6: Sergei Vavilov: The President of the Academy of Science 7: Nuclear Physics under Beria's Command 8: Russian Physics at the height of Cosmopolitanism 9: The Hydrogen Bomb at FIAN Part III: In The Nuclear Archipelago 10: The Installation 11: The "Heroic" Work at the Installation 12: Theoretical Physicists in Soviet Practice 13: The Physics of Social Responsibility 14: From Military Physics to Peaceful Cosmology 15: World Peace and World Science 16: Reflections on Intellectual Freedom in 1968 Part IV: A humanitarian Physicist 17: Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn: The Physics and Geometry of Russian History 18: On the Other Side 19: Andrei and Lusya 20: Freedom and responsibility

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Book SynopsisA provocative call for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, accompanied by case studies from Ecuador to Appalachia and from Germany to Norway.Not so long ago, people North and South had little reason to believe that wealth from oil, gas, and coal brought anything but great prosperity. But the presumption of net benefits from fossil fuels is eroding as widening circles of people rich and poor experience the downside.A positive transition to a post-fossil fuel era cannot wait for global agreement, a swap-in of renewables, a miracle technology, a carbon market, or lifestyle change. This book shows that it is now possible to take the first step toward the post-fossil fuel era, by resisting the slow violence of extreme extraction and combustion, exiting the industry, and imagining a good life after fossil fuels. It shows how an environmental politics of transition might occur, arguing for going to the source rather than managing byproducts, for delegi

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Book SynopsisIn this groundbreaking account of an energy revolution in the making, award-winning science writer Richard Martin introduces us to thorium, an alternate source of energy and how it is revolutionizing nuclear power, promising a safe and clean future for millions, and why thorium was sidelined at the height of the Cold War.Table of ContentsThe Lost Book of Thorium Power The Thunder Element The Only Safe Reactor The Shadow Elements The Birth of Nuclear Power The Death of Nuclear Power India and China: A Clash of Civilizations Nuclear's Next Generation The Business Crusade What We Must Do

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Book SynopsisUS President Harry Truman evidently understood the terrifying power of atomic weaponry, but no one could have realised its full potential when he ordered the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Those military attacks, along with the disasters at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear reactors, might spring to mind at the mention of nuclear destruction, but the majority of the events recorded in this book are entirely unknown to most people. This book records the facts - many of them still shrouded in secrecy - which show a worrying truth: we have teetered precariously on the brink of Armageddon far more frequently than the general public realises.Since that first and last atomic war in 1945, there have been a terrifying number of nuclear accidents and mishaps, from the careless or accidental to the genuinely intentional and only narrowly averted. Despite the catastrophic nature of any nuclear conflict, we have come to the very borders of such a situation eight times since the 1960s. These were potential conflicts, but there have been other accidents, such as the reactor meltdown at the nuclear generating plant at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979, or the 'Palomares Incident' in 1966, when a USAF B-52 bomber crashed after a mid-air collision, dropping four hydrogen bombs on Spanish soil . . .Eve of Destruction is a warning from recent history. It is a call to sit up and listen, and to take note of the very real danger of nuclear catastrophe. It is a timely and important book because, after all, the future of our planet has to concern us all.

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Book SynopsisEverything you thought you knew about nuclear power is wrong. This is just as well, because nuclear energy is essential to avoid catastrophic global warming. While renewables will surely play an important part in our future energy strategy, expecting them to deliver all the world's power is dangerously delusional. In 2014, statistics showed that wind and solar power contributed only 1 per cent of global primary energy. Similarly, while energy saving has a key role to play in the developed world, there is no possibility of humanity as a whole using less energy while the developing world is extracting itself from poverty. And the fact is that the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and '80s has made the world more dependent on fossil fuels. In Nuclear 2.0, environmental campaigner Mark Lynas debunks the myths that have cast nuclear energy in a bad light. Often overlooked because of concerns surrounding nuclear waste and radiation poisoning after the Chernobyl disaster, atomic energy is one of the most impressive sources of low-carbon power. In this enlightening read, Mark looks at the science and re-evaluates the situation to unravel why our future is threatened not just by the big fossil-fuel companies, but also the professional anti-nuclear Green groups. This book is a call for all those who want to see a low-carbon future to join forces and advocate a huge, Apollo-Program-scale investment in wind, solar and nuclear power.Trade ReviewA passionate appeal to environmentalists to embrace all the tools available that can tackle climate change. This book deserves to be read. * David MacKay FRS, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. How we got to where we are 2. The carbon challenge 3. The N-word 4. The case against: nuclear accidents and radiation 5. Next generation: Nuclear 2.0 6. The spectre of climate change 7. All of the above Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe near meltdown in 1979 at Three Mile Island, America, created a crisis of confidence over safety nuclear power industry. This work analyzes how the industry stabilized itself through a complete transformation in the safety standards, operation and management of nuclear facilities in America.

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Book SynopsisThis study looks at the world of political conflict surrounding the Commonwealth Edison Company's nuclear power plant construction programme in northern Illinois during the 1980s. It examines the theory that planning can best be thought of as a form of persuasive storytelling.

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Book SynopsisA study of the nuclear theme in Japanese intellectual and artistic life, recounting the history of Japanese public discourse around Hiroshima and Nagasaki from August 6, 1945, to the present day. It studies works from the earliest survivor writers up to Japanese intellectuals writing today.Table of ContentsPreface A Note on the Illustrations Introduction 1: Atrocity into Words 2: Genre and Post-Hiroshima Representation 3: The Three Debates 4: Hara Tamiki and the Documentary Fallacy 5: Poetry Against Itself 6: Ota Yoko and the Place of the Narrator 7: Oe Kenzaburo: Humanism and Hiroshima 8: Ibuse Masuji: Nature, Nostalgia, Memory 9: Nagasaki and the Human Future 10: The Atomic, the Nuclear, and the Total: Oda Makoto 11: Concluding Remarks: And Then Notes References Index

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