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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Nuclear issues
The contributors to this text discuss the cases for and against the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel elements to remove the plutonium from them.
This topical book addresses the need for emerging economies in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe to find a new, sustainable growth model that fosters continued convergence with the EU without leading to the build-up of new vulnerabilities.The expert contributions frame the discussion on balanced growth in Europe, deal with the legacy of the old growth model (such as managing disrupted capital flows and deleveraging), and provide insights from the growth strategies of Russia and Turkey as well as the adjustment process of successful small CESEE countries. They focus on providing a multi-disciplinary assessment, combining the views of policy-makers and academics with those of central and commercial bankers. This book will prove a thought-provoking read for academics, researchers and students in the fields of economics - particularly international economics - and finance, money and banking. Policy-makers and economists interested in European integration and emerging European economies will also find this book to be an invaluable resource. Contributors: A.F. Aysan, G. Bisagni, D. Bogov, M. Dabrowski, M. Ferrazzi, A. Filardo, M. Gachter, L. Gattini, M.H. Guler, A. Hansson, S. Honkapohja, R. Jela i , K. Knot, I. Korhonen, A. Krstevska, E. Liikanen, E. Nowotny, C. Orman, E. Plato, P. Pumberger, M. Randveer, D. Revoltella, A. Riedl, D. Ritzberger-Grunwald, K. Sonin, E. Tuomi, S. Verkaart
Looking at the politics of nuclear waste, this book examines the subject from an international standpoint. Other works by the author Andrew Blowers include "The Limits of Power" and "Something in the Air", and he has been co-editor on books such as "Nuclear Power in Crisis".
What is the best approach for resolving differences over the Iranian nuclear programme and preventing a conflict? How would a conflict possibly unravel given Iranian military, asymmetric and missile capabilities? What does a military conflict over Iran mean for international order and India in particular? These are some of the questions that the book, Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics analyses and seeks answers to. The Iranian nuclear programme is a complex subject plagued by fundamental differences on how best to resolve it. While some advocate diplomacy and economic sanctions as a way forward, others push for a military response arguing that pursuing diplomacy provides Iran additional time to achieve a break-out capability. However, military coercion may not yield desired results, given the dispersed nature of Iranian nuclear facilities. A strike in fact is likely to accelerate Iranian nuclear weaponisation programme. The recent sanctioning of Iran's oil sector adds to the regime's cup of woes which is already overflowing due to a host of economic problems. However, the jury is still out on the question of whether sanctions would spark public disaffection against the regime. The implications of a military conflict involving Iran are serious for Asia, Particularly India. About 85 percent of Iranian oil exports are eastward bound. Dependence on crude and natural gas imports from the Middle East and North Africa region including Iran poses a dilemma for Indian Policy makers. New Delhi thus needs to strike a fine balance while basing its policy on realpolitik and national interest.
Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster in 2011 many concerned citizens-particularly mothers-were unconvinced by the Japanese government's assurances that the country's food supply was safe. They took matters into their own hands, collecting their own scientific data that revealed radiation-contaminated food. In Radiation Brain Moms and Citizen Scientists Aya Hirata Kimura shows how, instead of being praised for their concern about their communities' health and safety, they faced stiff social sanctions, which dismissed their results by attributing them to the work of irrational and rumor-spreading women who lacked scientific knowledge. These citizen scientists were unsuccessful at gaining political traction, as they were constrained by neoliberal and traditional gender ideologies that dictated how private citizens-especially women-should act. By highlighting the challenges these citizen scientists faced, Kimura provides insights into the complicated relationship between science, foodways, gender, and politics in post-Fukushima Japan and beyond.
Why did Britain decide in 1947 to build an atomic bomb? What military plans were there for using it? This neglected dimension of British nuclear policy is assessed in detail for the first time, using confidential records - including those of the Chiefs of Staff - which have become available for the entire post-war decade. The emergence and evolution of British strategic ideas about nuclear deterrence and targeting are documented and analysed by Ian Clark and Nicholas J. Wheeler, who also argue that British thinking was distinctive and made a much more substantial impact on nuclear strategy than American accounts would suggest. They reveal that, from a perspective unique to British circumstances and traditions, British officials made a significant contribution to early thinking about nuclear weapons. This study covers the early shift from a 'countervalue' to a damage limitation targeting posture, the assessment of the Soviet threat, the impact of the Korean War, the Global Strategy Paper of 1952, the decision to manufacture a hydrogen weapon in 1954, and the inter-service rivalries in the mid-1950s about the nature and size of the British strategic force. As well as providing a survey of British thinking, it is unusual in its focus on strategic comparisons between Britain and the United States.
Nuclear power issues have long been controversial, and often discussed from an inadequate or mistaken understanding. This book is a factual description of the whole fuel cycle, with individual chapters on specific topics from uranium mining, through the manufacture and use of fuel, to recycled products, waste disposal and progress towards a cleared site. Basic principles, environmental radioactivity (both natural and artificial) and provisions for safety are also covered. The level is pitched at a general scientific readership not necessarily familiar with the concepts, and although the viewpoint is naturally pro-nuclear, the aim is to inform rather than persuade. Where options are disputed, as whether used fuel should br reprocessed or discarded directly, both are described. The account is mainly of current practices, with the reasons for them. A final chapter suggests possible changes in the near or more distant future.
A number of IAEA Member States generate relatively small quantities of radioactive waste and/or disused sealed sources in research or in the application of nuclear techniques in medicine and industry. This publication presents a modular approach to the design of waste processing and storage facilities to address the needs of such Member States with a cost effective and flexible solution that allows easy adjustment to changing needs in terms of capacity and variety of waste streams. The key feature of the publication is the provision of practical guidance to enable the users to determine their waste processing and storage requirements, specify those requirements to allow the procurement of the appropriate processing and storage modules and install and eventually operate those modules.
Based on frequent, first-hand reporting in Iran and the United States, The Iran Agenda Today explores the turbulent recent history between the two countries and reveals how it has led to a misguided showdown over nuclear technology. Foreign correspondent Reese Erlich notes that all the major U.S. intelligence agencies agree Iran has not had a nuclear weapons program since at least 2003. He explores why Washington nonetheless continues with saber rattling and provides a detailed critique of mainstream media coverage of Iran. The book further details the popular protests that have rocked Tehran despite repression by the country's Deep State. In addition to covering the political story, Erlich offers insights on Iran's domestic politics, popular culture, and diverse populations over this recent era. His analysis draws on past interviews with high-ranking Iranian officials, the former shah's son, Reza Pahlavi, and Iranian exiles in Los Angeles, as well as the memory of his trip to Tehran with actor Sean Penn. Written in skillful and riveting journalistic prose, The Iran Agenda Today provides inside information that academic researchers find hard to obtain.
Radiological environmental impact assessment models are important tools for public and environmental protection, for example, in planning measures to be taken in the event of accidental releases. This publication was developed to report on results from international model validation exercises conducted within the IAEA's MODARIA I programme to test and improve the modelling for predictions used for environmental transfer and dose assessment in urban areas. Model exercises were focused on: contamination densities and activity concentrations in air following short range atmospheric dispersion and deposition events; prediction of atmospheric dispersion and application of decision support systems under complex meteorological and topographic conditions; and expected reductions in ambient dose rates and activity concentrations due to protective actions following a nuclear accident. The report builds on past IAEA publications and provides relevant examples for use in strengthening the global nuclear safety framework as part of emergency preparedness and response planning following a nuclear or radiological emergency.
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.
Each year billions of dollars are being spent in the area of nuclear power generation to design, construct, manufacture, operate, and maintain various types of systems around the globe. Many times these systems fail due to safety, reliability, human factors, and human error related problems. The main objective of this book is to combine nuclear power plant safety, reliability, human factors, and human error into a single volume for those individuals that work closely during the nuclear power plant design phase, as well as other phases, thus eliminating the need to consult many different and diverse sources in obtaining the desired information.
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.
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.
Nuclear energy leaves behind an infinitely dangerous legacy of radioactive wastes in places that are remote and polluted landscapes of risk. Four of these places - Hanford (USA) where the plutonium for the first atomic bombs was made, Sellafield, where the UK's nuclear legacy is concentrated and controversial, La Hague the heart of the French nuclear industry, and Gorleben, the focal point of nuclear resistance in Germany - provide the narratives for this unique account of the legacy of nuclear power. The Legacy of Nuclear Power takes a historical and geographical perspective going back to the origins of these places and the ever changing relationship between local communities and the nuclear industry. The case studies are based on a variety of academic and policy sources and on conversations with a vast array of people over many years. Each story is mediated through an original theoretical framework focused on the concept of 'peripheral communities' developing through changing discourses of nuclear energy. This interdisciplinary book brings together social, political and ethical themes to produce a work that tells not just a story but also provides profound insights into how the nuclear legacy should be managed in the future. The book is designed to be enjoyed by academics, policy-makers and professionals interested in energy, environmental planning and politics and by a wider group of stakeholders and the public concerned about our nuclear legacy.
This book explores the politics of anti-nuclear activism in Tokyo after the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 2011. Analyzing the protests in the context of a longer history of citizen activism in Tokyo, it also situates the movement within the framework of a global struggle for democracy, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street. By examining the anti-nuclear movement at both urban and transnational scales, the book also reveals the complex geography of today's globally connected social movements. It emphasizes the contestation of urban space by anti-nuclear activists in Tokyo and the weaving together of urban and cyber space in their praxis. By focusing on the cultural life of the movement-from its characteristic demonstration style to its blogs, zines and pamphlets-this book communicates activists' voices in their own words. Based on excellent ethnographic research, it concludes that the anti-nuclear protests in Tokyo after the Fukushima disaster have redefined social movement politics for a new era. Providing an analysis of a unique period in Japan's contemporary urban history from the perspective of eyewitness observations, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese Politics, Sociology and Japanese Studies in general.
This publication provides a global overview of the status of spent fuel and radioactive waste management programmes, inventories, current practices, technologies and trends. It presents information on national arrangements for the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, and on current waste and spent fuel inventories and their future estimates. Achievements, challenges and trends in the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste are also addressed. This second edition has been developed with a basis of national profiles submitted by Member States, complemented with openly available Joint Convention National Reports. The data reported are fully dependent on the input from the States and by the assumptions made to transform these data into the waste classes defined in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. GSG?1, Classification of Radioactive Waste.
This book critically examines the phenomenon of low level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facility siting across four international democracies. The issue is of growing importance since World War II the level of this waste has increased from the hundreds to the billions. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that nuclear power generation facilities alone produce about 200,000 cubic meters of low and intermediate-level waste each year worldwide; waste that needs to be isolated from the public for extended periods of time. Siting LLRW disposal facilities in democracies is beset by two main problems: almost universally negative community response to siting proposals, and, as a result, government s reactive policies. There has been a tendency for democratic countries to adopt a default position of deferring siting decisions for as long as possible due to a fear of public opposition, which only increases the risks associated with radiation. The authors explore these issues utilizing a linear narrative case study approach that critically examines key stakeholder interactions in order to explain how siting decisions are made. The book incorporates a stakeholder theory approach to allow for a better understanding of the key players roles and how such decisions are made as well as an environmental justice perspective to better understand how some siting decisions negatively impact lower socio-economic classes and indigenous peoples within democratic societies. The four featured countries the United States, Australia, Spain and South Korea represent a broad range of current siting issues. Though the different countries are geographically and culturally diverse, they are all democracies with vibrant civil societies, which mean that siting decisions require negotiation between the siting authority and the host community via representative stakeholders. Most studies of nuclear waste focus on siting at a single location or in a single country, whereas this book seeks to establish an understanding of the political, economic, environmental, legal and social dimensions of siting across multiple countries. Furthermore, the book targets specifically low-level radioactive waste, which has traditionally received far less study by the academic community than high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel. This valuable resource fills a gap in the literature with international comparative research and provides recommendations for future low-level radioactive waste disposal facility siting efforts. The book should be of interest to students and scholars of environmental law, justice, management and politics, as well as energy and security policy."
The complexity of the twenty-first century threat landscape contrasts markedly with the bilateral nuclear bargaining context envisioned by classical deterrence theory. Nuclear and conventional arsenals continue to develop alongside anti-satellite programs, autonomous robotics or drones, cyber operations, biotechnology, and other innovations barely imagined in the early nuclear age. The concept of cross-domain deterrence (CDD) emerged near the end of the George W. Bush administration as policymakers and commanders confronted emerging threats to vital military systems in space and cyberspace. The Pentagon now recognizes five operational environments or so-called domains (land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace), and CDD poses serious problems in practice. In Cross-Domain Deterrence, Erik Gartzke and Jon R. Lindsay assess the theoretical relevance of CDD for the field of International Relations. As a general concept, CDD posits that how actors choose to deter affects the quality of the deterrence they achieve. Contributors to this volume include senior and junior scholars and national security practitioners. Their chapters probe the analytical utility of CDD by examining how differences across, and combinations of, different military and non-military instruments can affect choices and outcomes in coercive policy in historical and contemporary cases.
We need energy to warm and light our homes, to power our transport and communications, and to support our manufacturing industries. Can we obtain enough energy to satisfy the needs of a rapidly increasing world population without, at the same time, devastating the earth? Is nuclear power the way to do this? This book surveys available energy sources and their effects on the environment in the context of moral imperatives and political realities. The publication focuses on radioecologjcal experience and data acquired and lessons learned in Japan following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. The publication brings together outcomes of the extensive studies, done by Japanese scientists and their colleagues from other countries, on characterization of radioecological transfer parameters in the terrestrial and aquatic environments of Japan affected by radionuclides released in the accident. The Japan specific data are systematically presented and compared to the global experience gained from the earlier nuclear accidents, military or industrial activities. Climate, landscape, agriculture and food processing practices, lifestyle and national dietary customs are shown as factors influencing transfer of radionuclides through the environment and human food chains. The publication summarizes country specific experience and puts it into existing global radioecological contexts.
Member States intending to introduce a nuclear power programme will need to pass through several phases during the implementation. Experience shows that careful planning of the objectives, roles, responsibilities, interfaces and tasks to be carried out in different phases of a nuclear project is important for success. This publication presents a harmonized approach that may be used to structure the owner/operator management system and establish and manage nuclear projects and their development activities irrespective of the adopted approach. It has been developed from shared management practices and consolidated experiences provided by nuclear project management specialists through a series of workshops and working groups organized by the IAEA. The resultant publication presents a useful framework for the management of nuclear projects from initiation to closeout and captures international best practices.
Proceedings of the 45th Session of the International Seminars on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies held in Erice, Sicily. This Seminar has again gathered, in 2012, over one hundred scientists from 43 countries in an interdisciplinary effort that has been going on for the last 31 years, to examine and analyze planetary problems which had been followed up, all year long, by the World Federation of Scientists' Permanent Monitoring Panels.
This collection of factual reports, short stories, poems and drawings expresses in a deeply personal voice the devastating effects of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
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