This book analyses the 1980s as a nuclear decade, focusing on British and United States fiction. Ranging across genres including literary fiction, science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, graphic novels, children's and young adult literature, thrillers and horror, it shows how pressing nuclear issues were, particularly the possibility of nuclear war, and how deeply they penetrated the culture. It is innovative for its discussion of a "nuclear transatlantic," placing British and American texts in dialogue with one another, for its identification of a vibrant young adult fiction that resonates with more conventionally studied literatures of the period and for its analysis of a "politics of vulnerability" animating nuclear debates. Placing nuclear literature in social and historical contexts, it shows how novels and short stories responded not only to nuclear fears, but also crystallised contemporary debates about issues of gender, the environment, society and the economy.

This book is the product of a unique collaboration by experts from leading international, regional and national agencies and professional organizations discussing on the current 'hot' issue on the judicious use and safety of radiation in radiology. There have been several cases involving radiation overexposure that have received international attention. Strategies and solutions to guide readers how to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks when using radiation in medicine are covered.

Five years after the one of the worst nuclear accidents in history, Fukushima now only occasionally headlines national and international media. However, the disaster is far from over, as evidenced by a hundred thousand people from Fukushima still in the state of evacuation, rising levels of radiation in streams and rivers, and failing attempts to control the leakage of radioactive materials at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Despite these dismal conditions, efforts to recover and rebuild livelihoods in the afflicted regions of Fukushima did start immediately after the outset of the accident. Rebuilding Fukushima gives an account of how citizens, local governments, and businesses responded to and coped with the crisis of Fukushima. It addresses principles to guide reconstruction and international policy environments in which the current disaster is situated. It explores how reconstruction is articulated and experienced at different spatial scales, ranging from individuals to communities and municipalities, and details recovery efforts, achievements, and challenges in the realms of public transportation, agriculture and food production, manufacturing industries, retail sectors, and renewable-energy industries. This book also critically investigates the nature of the current reconstruction policy schemes, and seeks to articulate what may be required in order to achieve more sustainable and equitable (re)development in afflicted regions and other nuclear host regions. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and local surveys, this volume is one of the first books in English that captures the knowledge and insights of native Japanese social scientists who dealt with the complexities of nuclear disaster on a day-to-day basis. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of disaster-management studies and nuclear policy.

At 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.

Every day throughout Britain, by road, by rail and by sea, there are large numbers of routine movements of radioactive cargo. Materials at all stages of the nuclear cycle, from uranium ore to nuclear waste, from nuclear warheads to radioactive isotopes used in medicine, are constantly on the move. In normal circumstances handling low-level material exposes workers to small doses of radiation, but a serious accident could lead to widespread contamination and to the major risk of additional deaths from cancer. The accident record is not good. There are repeated small accidents and many people believe that the major accident is simply waiting to happen. This book gives a thorough account of what is moved, by wham and far what purpose. It considers the risks, including that of terrorism, the safety record and the precautions. It also highlights the perils of the secrecy surrounding the industry: for example, local councils are responsible for coping with any accident, but are not told when or where nuclear movements are taking place. Martin Bond's careful work is a large step towards order in a chaotic industry. Originally published in 1992

Pioneering antinuclear activist Helen Caldicott assembles the world's leading nuclear scientists and thought leaders to assess the political and scientific dimensions of the threat of nuclear war today. Chapters include the size and distribution of the current global nuclear arsenal and the history and politics of nuclear weapons. The book ends with a devastating description of what a nuclear attack on Manhattan would look like, followed by an overview of contemporary antinuclear activism. Both essential and terrifying, this book is sure to become the new bible of the antinuclear movement.

Public regulation of site-selection for nuclear power plants is woven into the fabric of the distinctively-American experience in exercising government control over privately-owned public utilities. Originally published in 1977, the authors have identified the various dimensions of public concern with the selection of new nuclear power sites. This volume, divided into four parts, explores the complex issues at the heart of American nuclear power: Part I contains literature which describes the process of power-plant siting as conducted by the utilities; Part II contains studies and reports on the structure and process of public regulation; Part III describes local government, State, and other Federal agency regulation of siting; and finally, Part IV cites selected proposals and analyses of recommendations for regulatory reform. This is a valuable resource for any student interested in environmental studies and public policy reform.

The first atomic bombs were constructed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where lab workers disposed of waste plutonium in nearby canyons leading to the Rio Grande. Today, the environmental consequences are just beginning to be understood as scientists examine the effects created by past mishandling of one of the most toxic chemical wastes known. Written in an engaging, accessible style, Plutonium and the Rio Grande is the first book to offer a complete exploration of this environmental history. It includes an explanation of what plutonium is, how much of it was released by the Los Alamos workers, and how much entered the river system directly from waste disposal and indirectly, as a result of atomic bomb fallout. The book includes extensive appendices, maps, diagrams, and photographs. Environmental managers, ecologists, hydrologists and other river specialists, as well as concerned general readers will find the book readable and informative.

This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics driving, and constraining, nuclear power development in Asia, Europe and North America, providing detailed comparative analysis. The book formulates a theory of nuclear socio-political economy which highlights six factors necessary for embarking on nuclear power programs: (1) national security and secrecy, (2) technocratic ideology, (3) economic interventionism, (4) a centrally coordinated energy stakeholder network, (5) subordination of opposition to political authority, and (6) social peripheralization. The book validates this theory by confirming the presence of these six drivers during the initial nuclear power developmental periods in eight countries: the United States, France, Japan, Russia (the former Soviet Union), South Korea, Canada, China, and India. The authors then apply this framework as a predictive tool to evaluate contemporary nuclear power trends. They discuss what this theory means for developed and developing countries which exhibit the potential for nuclear development on a major scale, and examine how the new "renaissance" of nuclear power may affect the promotion of renewable energy, global energy security, and development policy as a whole. The volume also assesses the influence of climate change and the recent nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, on the nuclear power industry's trajectory. This book will be of interest to students of energy policy and security, nuclear proliferation, international security, global governance and IR in general.

This book is about how energy, risk and governance are intertwined in the development of the nuclear industry in India and its relationship with the Indian public. It provides a rare insider-view of how the nuclear establishment thinks about risk, contrasted with public understandings of nuclear risk. Energy, Risk and Governance presents a nuanced picture of why nuclear energy is still considered by some as a rational choice. This is in spite of its risks, the ambiguities in both expert and public risk perceptions, and the internal reflexivities that have emerged within the nuclear establishment as a result of the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster that is absent from public discourse. The insights in this book are not unique to India and similar observations can likely be made across the global nuclear industry. Reflecting on what this means for risk governance in practice, this book proposes practical suggestions and some tools that practitioners in the nuclear industry can use in public engagement, risk communication and deliberation at various stages of decision-making.

The hydrogen test-bomb Bravo, dropped on the Marshall Islands in 1954, had enormous consequences for the Rongelap people. Anthropologists Barbara Rose Johnston and Holly Barker provide incontrovertible evidence of physical and financial damages to individuals and cultural and psycho-social damages to the community through use of declassified government documents, oral histories and ethnographic research, conducted with the Marshallese community within a unique collaborative framework. Their work helped produce a $1 billion award by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal and raises issues of bioethics, government secrecy, human rights, military testing, and academic activism. The report, reproduced here with accompanying materials, should be read by everyone concerned with the effects of nuclear war and is an essential text for courses in history, environmental studies, bioethics, human rights, and related subjects.

The hydrogen test-bomb Bravo, dropped on the Marshall Islands in 1954, had enormous consequences for the Rongelap people. Anthropologists Barbara Rose Johnston and Holly Barker provide incontrovertible evidence of physical and financial damages to individuals and cultural and psycho-social damages to the community through use of declassified government documents, oral histories and ethnographic research, conducted with the Marshallese community within a unique collaborative framework. Their work helped produce a $1 billion award by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal and raises issues of bioethics, government secrecy, human rights, military testing, and academic activism. The report, reproduced here with accompanying materials, should be read by everyone concerned with the effects of nuclear war and is an essential text for courses in history, environmental studies, bioethics, human rights, and related subjects.

Hundreds of studies have investigated public perceptions and preferences about nuclear power, waste management, and technology. However there is clear lack of uniformity in the style, aims and methods applied. Consequently, the body of results is inconsistent and it is difficult to isolate relevant patterns or interpretations. Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust presents a theoretical base for public reactions then classifies and reviews the large body of surveys carried out over the past decade. Particular focus is placed on residents within 50 miles US nuclear waste facilities due to the disproportionate presence of nuclear factors in their lives such as the legacy of nuclear waste disposal and job dependency. The motivations and reasons for their views such as fear, attraction to the economic benefits, trust of site managers and federal agencies, cultural views, personal history, and demographic attributes of the people are also considered to provide a balanced and detailed overview. Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust includes a comprehensive treatment of the theories and literature, and most important is grounded in surveys in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 which includes questions considering the impact of Fukushima on US public opinion. By including real life data alongside the analysis, Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power, and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust provides a relevant and concise reference for nuclear industry professionals. It also acts a resource for students and researchers studying nuclear-related topics including political, social and environmental factors. Particular focus is placed on residents within 50 miles US nuclear waste facilities due to the disproportionate presence of nuclear factors in their lives such as the legacy of nuclear waste disposal and job dependency. The motivations and reasons for their views such as fear, attraction to the economic benefits, trust of site managers and federal agencies, cultural views, personal history, and demographic attributes of the people are also considered to provide a balanced and detailed overview. Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust includes a comprehensive treatment of the theories and literature, and most important is grounded in surveys in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 which includes questions considering the impact of Fukushima on US public opinion. By including real life data alongside the analysis, Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power, and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust provides a relevant and concise reference for nuclear industry professionals. It also acts a resource for students and researchers studying nuclear-related topics including political, social and environmental factors. Particular focus is placed on residents within 50 miles US nuclear waste facilities due to the disproportionate presence of nuclear factors in their lives such as the legacy of nuclear waste disposal and job dependency. The motivations and reasons for their views such as fear, attraction to the economic benefits, trust of site managers and federal agencies, cultural views, personal history, and demographic attributes of the people are also considered to provide a balanced and detailed overview. Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust includes a comprehensive treatment of the theories and literature, and most important is grounded in surveys in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 which includes questions considering the impact of Fukushima on US public opinion. By including real life data alongside the analysis, Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power, and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust provides a relevant and concise reference for nuclear industry professionals. It also acts a resource for students and researchers studying nuclear-related topics including political, social and environmental factors. By including real life data alongside the analysis, Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power, and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust provides a relevant and concise reference for nuclear industry professionals. It also acts a resource for students and researchers studying nuclear-related topics including political, social and environmental factors. By including real life data alongside the analysis, Nuclear Waste Management, Nuclear Power, and Energy Choices: Public Preferences, Perceptions and Trust provides a relevant and concise reference for nuclear industry professionals. It also acts a resource for students and researchers studying nuclear-related topics including political, social and environmental factors.

How 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. Gorelik also elucidates the reasons that brought about the seemingly sudden transformation of the top-secret physicist into a public figure in 1968, when Sakharov's famous essay "Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom" was distributed in samizdat in the USSR and smuggled out to the West. Recently declassified documents show that Sakharov's metamorphosis was caused by professional concerns, particularly regarding the development of an anti-ballistic missile defense. An insider's view of how the upper echelons of the Soviet regime functioned had led Sakharov to the conclusion that the goals of peace, progress, and human rights were inextricably linked. His free thinking and free feeling were manifested in his hope that scientific thought and religious perception would find a profound synthesis in the future.

The decline in central financing for Russia's nuclear complex and the known interest of terrorist groups in acquiring fissile material and technologies, has made the state of Russia's far-flung nuclear enterprises a pressing international issue. In this important volume, a group of leading US and Russian policy experts - drawing on extensive interviews with officials, facility personnel, and analysts in Russia's regions - explores the intersecting problems of Russian nuclear insecurity and decentralization, including the growing influence of regional, political and economic forces. The work presents insights into both nuclear safety issues and post-Soviet intra-agency governance, as well as detailed case studies of critical nuclear regions: the Far East, the Urals, Siberia, and the Volga area. The volume also offers major new findings on the interface linking Russia's evolving center-periphery relations, its ailing nuclear facilities, and the role played by foreign assistance providers.

The issue of nuclear power has become a polarizing one, especially in light of the increasing need for sustainable energy sources, and events like the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan. The public has been largely wary and even fearful of a reliance on nuclear power, pointing to the reactor meltdown in Chernobyl or the Three-Mile Island accident as evidence that nuclear power is an unfeasible and dangerous source of energy. However, with these fears come misconceptions about the science behind nuclear power, and many arguments made against it lack the scientific grounding needed to contribute to the debate. At the same time, clean-energy sources like wind and solar have failed to prove that they can be used on a large enough scale to be relied upon. In Why We Need Nuclear Power: The Environmental Case, experienced radiation biologist Michael H. Fox replaces the misconceptions about nuclear power with real science, and argues that it may be the best source of energy both for large-scale use and slowing the effects of global warming. Fox relies on thirty-five years of experience studying the biological effects of radiation to explore the issues surrounding nuclear power, addressing which of the public's concerns on the issue are valid, and which are unsupported by science. He shows that nuclear power has crucial strategic importance in reducing the large amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. This is the first book to lay out clearly what we know about the biological effects of radiation, and what science we use to know it. Why We Need Nuclear Power is a critical resource for anyone looking to understand the facts of the nuclear power issue, and what role nuclear power could play in reducing the environmental impact of the world's energy consumption.

Once home to the United States's largest plutonium production site, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state is laced with 56 million gallons of radioactive waste. The threat of an explosive accident at Hanford is all too real—an event that could be more catastrophic than Chernobyl.  The EPA designated Hanford the most toxic place in America; it is also the most expensive environmental clean-up job the world has ever seen, with a $677 billion price tag that keeps growing. Huge underground tanks, well past their life expectancy and full of boiling radioactive gunk, are leaking, infecting groundwater supplies and threatening the Columbia River. Whistleblowers, worried that the worst is ahead, are now speaking out, begging to be heard and hoping their pleas help bring attention to the dire situation at Hanford. Aside from a few feisty community groups and handful of Indigenous activists, there is very little public scrutiny of the clean-up process, which is managed by the Department of Energy and carried out by contractors with shoddy track records, like Bechtel. In the context of renewed support for atomic power as a means of combating climate change, Atomic Days provides a much-needed refutation of the myths of nuclear technology—from weapons to electricity—and shines a spotlight on the ravages of Hanford and its threat to communities, workers and the global environment.

As the Soviet Union was collapsing in late 1991, reports began to reach the West about agents "shopping" for weapons systems - and weapons scientists - in the beleaguered Soviet military-industrial complex. In response, the United States, the European Community, and Japan, in cooperation with the Russian government, created a program to reemploy Soviet scientific personnel in civilian projects dealing with the legacy of the Soviet system - a polluted environment, unsafe nuclear power facilities, and economic underdevelopment. In this fascinating first-person account, the American environmental scientist who led the effort to establish the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow tells the diplomatic, scientific, and human story behind a remarkable post-Cold War conversion initiative.

The basic logic is very simple. Countries around the globe have a need for more electrical generating capacity because of increases in population and increases in energy use per capita. The needs are constrained by the requirement that the ba- load energy source be economical, secure, and not emit climate-changing gases. Nuclear power fits this description. Therefore, many countries that have not had a nuclear power program (or only had a small program) see a need to develop one in the future. However, the development of a national nuclear energy program is not so simple. The purpose of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Nuclear Power and Energy Security was to contribute to our understanding of how these programs might evolve. The workshop took place 26-29 May 2009 in Yerevan, Armenia. Approximately 50 participants discussed the infrastructure that is needed and some of the reactor options that might be considered. The papers in this book helped define the discussion that took place. The infrastructure that is needed includes a legal framework, a functioning regulator, a plan for waste disposal, a plan for emergency response, etc. These needs were explained and just as importantly, it was explained what international, bilateral, and regional cooperation is available. Although there were many co- tries represented, the Armenian experience was of particular interest because of where the meeting was located. The papers on reactor options covered both innovative and evolutionary designs.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017) sets out to challenge deterrence policies and military defence doctrines, taking a humanitarian approach intended to disrupt the nuclear status quo. States with nuclear weapons oppose its very existence, neither participating in its development nor adopting its final text. Civil society groups seem determined, however, to stigmatize and delegitimize nuclear weapons towards their abolition. This book analyzes how the Treaty influences the international security architecture, examining legal, institutional and diplomatic implications of the Treaty and exploring its real and potential impact for both states acceding to the Treaty and those opposing it. It concludes with practical recommendations for international lawyers and policymakers regarding non-proliferation and disarmament matters, ultimately noting that nuclear weapons threaten peace, and everyone should have the right to nuclear peace and freedom from nuclear fear.

The handling of actinides and actinide-based materials provides significant technological challenges due to the toxicity and radioactivity associated with these materials. These challenges are particularly apparent in the nuclear power industry. Under normal operation, a reactor can produce a significant amount of spent fuel requiring subsequent containment for geologic times, and under accident conditions it can release lethal doses of radioactive material to the environment. Inevitably, radioactive material will enter the environment, necessitating as complete an understanding as possible of its behavior. An understanding of the interaction between actinides and the environment must be based on a knowledge of their basic physical and chemical properties. To date, although there is general agreement on the principles for waste disposal, no facility has been built for the long term disposal of high level radioactive waste from either normal reactor operations or from accidental catastrophes. This makes it most important for the scientific and technical community to develop the necessary cross-disciplinary understanding that will help us implement safe and secure waste management, accident remediation and accident prevention systems.

This book seeks to go beyond conventional literature on the North Korean nuclear issue by examining the chances of survival of the Kim Jong Un regime, both with and without the nuclear weapons program. It offers a detailed historical background of the dysfunctional North Korean economy, explores the contemporary socioeconomic condition of the country, examines the failures of the Six-party Talks and other attempts at negotiations with North Korea, and outlines a blueprint for the survival of the regime through rapid economic modernization to be put forward by the five stakeholder nations in exchange for dismantlement of the nuclear weapons program.

Nuclear 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.

This is the third in a series of three proceedings of the 20th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference (PBNC). This volume covers the topics of Power Reactor and New Buildings, Waste Management, Acquiring Medical and Biological Benefits and Student program. As one in the most important and influential conference series of nuclear science and technology, the 20th PBNC was held in Beijing and the theme of this meeting was "Nuclear: Powering the Development of the Pacific Basin and the World". It brought together outstanding nuclear scientist and technical experts, senior industry executives, senior government officials and international energy organization leaders from all across the world. The book serves as a useful reference not only for the professionals and public to know more about nuclear industry, but also for policymakers to adjust or make energy strategies.

This is the second in a series of three proceedings of the 20th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference (PBNC). This volume covers the topics of Operation and Maintenance, Supply Capability and Quality Control, Fuel Cycles, as well as New Technology and New Applications. As one in the most important and influential conference series of nuclear science and technology, the 20th PBNC was held in Beijing and the theme of this meeting was "Nuclear: Powering the Development of the Pacific Basin and the World". It brought together outstanding nuclear scientist and technical experts, senior industry executives, senior government officials and international energy organization leaders from all across the world. The book is not only a good summary of the new developments in the field, but also a useful guideline for the researchers, engineers and graduate students.