The 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.

The magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, claiming over 20,000 lives. It crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, whose hydrogen-air explosions contaminated wide areas around Fukushima with radionuclides. The number of evacuees initially totaled 328,903, but has been reduced to 263,392 as of February 13, 2014. More than half of the evacuees (132,500) consist of Fukushima residents, and 67% of whom have experienced mental or physical disorders. Indeed, refugee life is so difficult that many Fukushima families have been affected by suicide, divorce, separation of family members, migration and settlement to other places, mental illness, etc. The difficulty is caused by the fear of low-dose radiation induced by the LNT model which claims that radiation cancer risk is linearly proportional to dose without any threshold. Careful scrutiny of the model, however, clearly indicates that the linearity is invalid; low dose radiation is not hazardous, but is even beneficial or hormetic because of the adaptive response to radiation. This book provides ample evidence to negate the LNT model. This book is primarily compiled to get rid of the spell of the LNT model and release Fukushima people from undue torture. The book would also be useful to the public in general who have CT scans and have concerns. In addition, the people who use radiation world-wide such as nuclear power plant workers, radiation researchers, radiologists, and X-ray operators would be relieved to learn from reading this book that the alleged risk of low-dose radiation is illusionary and that the low-dose radiation is even beneficial. Policy makers of nuclear energy and radiation who are working for governmental and/or regulatory agencies are also recommended to read this book. Severe guidelines from a safety standpoint sometimes entrap people into a fear-stricken situation rather than save them, as no one was killed by radiation directly, but more than 1,000 people have been killed by the fear of radiation secondarily in Fukushima. By the same token, this book is recommended to civil activists and journalists who emphasise dangers of low-dose radiation and raise fear of low-dose radiation. It is the time to shed new scientific light on the outdated LNT model.

Radioactive material is used worldwide for legitimate commercial purposes, including industrial processes in the oil and gas, aerospace, and food sterilisation sectors. Material used for these purposes is typically sealed in a metal capsule, such as stainless steel, titanium, or platinum, to prevent its dispersal and is commonly called a sealed source.1 Some of these sources are highly radioactive and are found in a wide variety of devices, ranging from mobile industrial radiography sources containing hundreds of curies of iridium-192 to larger irradiators with thousands, or even millions, of curies of cobalt-60. In the hands of terrorists, these sources could be used to produce a simple and crude, but potentially dangerous weapon, known as a radiological dispersal device or dirty bomb, whereby conventional The facilities where these sources are contained include, among other things, warehouses, commercial facilities, and research buildings. This book examines the challenges in reducing security risks posed by industrial radiological sources and the steps federal agencies are taking to improve security of the sources.

A groundbreaking study of how emotions motivate attempts to counter species loss. This groundbreaking book brings together environmental history and the history of emotions to examine the motivations behind species conservation actions. In Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age, Dolly Jorgensen uses the environmental histories of reintroduction, rewilding, and resurrection to view the modern conservation paradigm of the recovery of nature as an emotionally charged practice. Jorgensen argues that the recovery of nature-identifying that something is lost and then going out to find it and bring it back-is a nostalgic practice that looks to a historical past and relies on the concept of belonging to justify future-oriented action. The recovery impulse depends on emotional responses to what is lost, particularly a longing for recovery that manifests itself in such emotions as guilt, hope, fear, and grief. Jorgensen explains why emotional frameworks matter deeply-both for how people understand nature theoretically and how they interact with it physically. The identification of what belongs (the lost nature) and our longing (the emotional attachment to it) in the present will affect how environmental restoration practices are carried out in the future. A sustainable future will depend on questioning how and why belonging and longing factor into the choices we make about what to recover.

Energy is essential for the economic growth of a nation. Its absence or deficiency makes a nation highly vulnerable to international arms twisting as well as internal disturbances. As such, it is an important element in a nation's security matrix. India which is in the lower half of the countries as far as the energy consumption per capita is concerned. One of major reasons is the gap between the demand and the capacity of the country to supply the energy from indigenous sources. One of the important sources that hold promise in Indian context is the nuclear energy as it is clean and the resource; thorium to produce power through this route is available indigenously. However despite a well developed plan for energy conversion in place, using indigenous resources for over half a century, it is still considered only promising. Relevant questions in this regard are; whether perceived promise is realizable? If so, in what time frame and at what cost? Will it be safe keeping in view its capacity to cause wide spread devastation? Is there a need to seek technical collaboration with other countries or will it be better to go indigenous route only? How do we tackle the widening demand- supply gap during the interim? And finally is there a case for a review for the existing decision loop/energy management system? An attempt has been made in this book to address these issues. It is also expected that the concept advocated in this book for achieving energy security for India by 2030 will initiate a wider debate on the subject.

At the dawn of the atomic age, uranium and thorium were equally important as the elements of choice in researching nuclear energy - either one could have powered the world's reactors. But it was uranium that won out, and thorium, which is far cleaner, safer, and more abundant than uranium, was relegated to the dustbin of science. With it went the possibility of creating a low-risk nuclear energy source to power our planet. Now, as the world searches for cheap, non-carbon-emitting energy sources, thorium is reemerging as an overlooked solution. As one of the first energy experts to promote the development of thorium, award-winning science writer Richard Martin combines science, new historical research, and a timely business narrative to show how we can wean ourselves off our fossil-fuel addiction and shift to a lower-risk energy source. At once a big think book and a science manifesto, "SuperFuel "challenges us to look back at what could have been different in history as well as forward to an energy revolution in the making.

This book examines nuclear oversight, planning and safety efforts at U.S. nuclear power reactors across the United States. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent federal agency headed by five commissioners, licenses commercial nuclear power reactors and regulates and oversees their safe operation and security. An NRC task force has reviewed the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan and determined that the continued operation of existing U.S. nuclear power reactors and the licensing of new reactors do not pose an imminent risk to public health and safety. The disaster in Japan, caused by a tsunami, was more severe than the plant was designed to withstand, and has raised questions about whether a similar event could happen here. These questions were further highlighted by natural hazards that affected the sites of several U.S. commercial nuclear power plants and their reactors in 2011, including flooding near two power plants in Nebraska, severe storms at a plant in Alabama, and an earthquake at a plant in Virginia.

This book examines uranium mining and management in the United States with a focus on federal considerations. From 2005 to 2007, uranium prices increased from about $20 a pound to over $140 a pound, which led to renewed interest in uranium mining, both exploration and extraction, on federal land in the U.S. In early 2012, thousands of claims have been filed to explore for and potentially extract uranium on federal land. This increase in claims filed, has raised concerns about the potential impacts that an increased level of uranium exploration and extraction could have on the environment. During uranium extraction, the waste rock piles that are formed can introduce radionuclides (such as radium) and heavy metals (such as selenium and arsenic) into the environment. Before the mid-1970s, many mines on federal land, were abandoned without any reclamation, leaving a costly legacy of abandoned mines that pose potential health, safety, and environmental hazards.

As the world struggles to meet the growing international demands for electricity, green energy, and alternatives to fossil fuels, the nuclear power sector is experiencing global growth. Nuclear reactors are being designed and constructed at record rates, and Canada is joining the trend, with several provinces considering an expansion of their nuclear presence. Canada, the Provinces, and the Global Nuclear Revival critically examines Canadian nuclear policy in order to show how historic, environmental, economic, and political factors have shaped the direction of the nation's energy industry. Duane Bratt presents a comparative study of the Canadian nuclear sector - using a framework of interest-based coalitions - in its response to the global revival, analyzing nuclear development in Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The book also answers fundamental questions such as: Has Canada seized international opportunities in uranium mining, reactor sales, and cooperation with other countries in nuclear research? To what extent has the industry been consolidated through mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment, and the privatization of crown corporations? A state-of-the-art exploration of Canada's place in the rapidly shifting world of electricity production by an acclaimed expert in the field, Canada, the Provinces, and the Global Nuclear Revival is a major contribution to the international nuclear debate.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future was chartered to recommend a new strategy for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Nation's failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly and it will be more damaging and more costly the longer it continues: damaging to prospects for maintaining a potentially important energy supply option for the future, damaging to state-federal relations and public confidence in the federal government's competence, and damaging to America's standing in the world -- not only as a source of nuclear technology and policy expertise but as a leader on global issues of nuclear safety, non-proliferation, and security. This book examines the use of nuclear energy as a low-carbon energy resource with a focus on the management of the nuclear fuel cycle, based on emerging technologies and developments.

Almost 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.

Weapons 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.

This book examines the Near-Term Task Force, which was established in response to Commission direction to conduct a systematic and methodical review of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission processes and regulations to determine whether the agency should make additional improvements to its regulatory system and to make recommendations to the Commission for its policy direction, in light of the accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The Task Force recognises that there likely will be more than 100 nuclear power plants operating throughout the United States for decades to come. In examining the Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident for insights for reactors in the United States, the Task Force addressed protecting against accidents resulting from natural phenomena, mitigating the consequences of such accidents, and ensuring emergency preparedness.

While it does not forego the seriousness associated with the topic, this book provides for an easy read that informs the reader of a variety of issues associated with the subject. Divided into short chapters, aspects such as technology, resource availability, economics, geopolitics and policies associated with nuclear power are dealt with in detail, but in a way that emphasizes readability. Contentious areas such as safety, waste management and the latest trends associated with them are laid bare for the reader. The book also dwells in depth on the shrill and seldom above-board debate on nuclear power and renewables. This is an invaluable companion for all those looking to understand the nature of the nuclear industry in the new millennium and the implications of international treaties such as the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Essays link Gaian science to such global environmental quandaries as climate change and biodiversity destruction, providing perspectives from science, philosophy, politics, and technology. Gaian theory, which holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably bound to form a self-regulating system, is more relevant than ever in light of increasing concerns about global climate change. The Gaian paradigm of Earth as a living system, first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, has inspired a burgeoning body of researchers working across disciplines that range from physics and biology to philosophy and politics. Gaia in Turmoil reflects this disciplinary richness and intellectual diversity, with contributions (including essays by both Lovelock and Margulis) that approach the topic from a wide variety of perspectives, discussing not only Gaian science but also global environmental problems and Gaian ethics and education. Contributors focus first on the science of Gaia, considering such topics as the workings of the biosphere, the planet's water supply, and evolution; then discuss Gaian perspectives on global environmental change, including biodiversity destruction and global warming; and finally explore the influence of Gaia on environmental policy, ethics, politics, technology, economics, and education. Gaia in Turmoil breaks new ground by focusing on global ecological problems from the perspectives of Gaian science and knowledge, focusing especially on the challenges of climate change and biodiversity destruction. Contributors David Abram, Donald Aitken, Connie Barlow, J. Baird Callicott, Bruce Clarke, Eileen Crist, Tim Foresman, Stephan Harding, Barbara Harwood, Tim Lenton, Eugene Linden, Karen Litfin, James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Bill McKibben, Martin Ogle, H. Bruce Rinker, Mitchell Thomashow, Tyler Volk, Hywel Williams

An essential reference for journalists, activists, and students, this book presents scientifically accurate and accessible overviews of twenty-four of the most important issues in the nuclear realm, including: health effects, nuclear safety and engineering, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, nuclear medicine, food irradiation, transport of nuclear materials, spent fuel, nuclear weapons, and global warming. Each 'brief' is based on interviews with named scientists, engineers, or administrators in a nuclear specialty, and each has been reviewed by a team of independent experts. The objective is not to make a case for or against nuclear-related technologies, but rather to provide definitive background information. (The approach is based on that of ""The Reporter's Environmental Handbook"", published in 1988, which won a special award for journalism from the Sigma Delta Chi Society of professional journalists.) Other features of the book include: a glossary of hundreds of terms; an introduction to risk assessment; environmental and economic impacts, and public perceptions; an article by an experienced reporter with recommendations about how to cover nuclear issues; quick guides to the history of nuclear power in the United States, important federal legislation and regulations, nuclear position statements, and key organizations; and, references for print and electronic resources.

Poison in the Well provides a balanced look at the policy decisions, scientific conflicts, public relations strategies, and the myriad mishaps and subsequent cover-ups that were born out of the dilemma of where to house deadly nuclear materials. Hamblin traces the development of the issue in Western countries from the end of World War II to the blossoming of the environmental movement in the early 1970s.

An essential reference for journalists, activists, and students, this book presents scientifically accurate and accessible overviews of twenty-four of the most important issues in the nuclear realm, including: health effects, nuclear safety and engineering, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, nuclear medicine, food irradiation, transport of nuclear materials, spent fuel, nuclear weapons, and global warming. Each 'brief' is based on interviews with named scientists, engineers, or administrators in a nuclear specialty, and each has been reviewed by a team of independent experts. The objective is not to make a case for or against nuclear-related technologies, but rather to provide definitive background information. (The approach is based on that of ""The Reporter's Environmental Handbook"", published in 1988, which won a special award for journalism from the Sigma Delta Chi Society of professional journalists.) Other features of the book include: a glossary of hundreds of terms; an introduction to risk assessment; environmental and economic impacts, and public perceptions; an article by an experienced reporter with recommendations about how to cover nuclear issues; quick guides to the history of nuclear power in the United States, important federal legislation and regulations, nuclear position statements, and key organizations; and, references for print and electronic resources.

The 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.

The diversion to military programmes of materials and technologies obtained from foreign suppliers for peaceful purposes has played a prominent role in the known cases of nuclear proliferation. The need to strengthen nuclear export controls has been identified by the G8 group of industrialized states and the European Union. This study examines the structure and activities of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a group of 45 states committed to applying effective controls on exports of an agreed set of items as part of a wider effort to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Fears of climate change-induced catastrophe have caused many to consider nuclear energy as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. There are increasing calls for U.S. nuclear energy policy to promote a major expansion of nuclear-generated electricity in the United States and abroad. Charles D. Ferguson argues that such thinking neglects the risks and costs of massive nuclear expansion.

This book examines the impacts of radionuclides released from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident on inland aquatic environments. The focus is on the dynamics of radiocesium in inland aquatic environments. The book comprises three parts: migration behavior of radiocesium in river and lake environment, accumulation of radiocesium into organisms in freshwater, and integrated environmental analysis in a lake system and a forest-freshwater system. Many studies on the dynamics of radionuclides have been published after the FDNPP accident, especially of radiocesium (134Cs 137Cs) in land and marine environment. The key features of this book are the new data of freshwater environment including transport of radionuclides in river and lake watershed, and accumulation of radiocesium in freshwater fishes and insects. Another feature of this book is that it summarizes the dataset of a model lake, Lake Akagi-Onuma, from geochemical and biological approaches. Readers will learn the actual dispersion behavior of radionuclides released from the Fukushima accident and their impacts on freshwater environments since the accident in 2011. The book presents valuable information for assessing the impacts of the FDNPP accident on ecosystem and human health, which are also useful in developing countermeasures for similar accidents and environmental contaminations.

Environmental tragedies such as Chernobyl and the "Exxon Valdez" remind us that catastrophic accidents are always possible in a world full of hazardous technologies. Yet, the "apparently" excellent safety record with nuclear weapons has led scholars, policy-makers, and the public alike to believe that nuclear arsenals can serve as a secure deterrent for the foreseeable future. In this provocative book, Scott Sagan challenges such optimism. Sagan's research into formerly classified archives penetrates the veil of safety that has surrounded U.S. nuclear weapons and reveals a hidden history of frightening "close calls" to disaster.