The 15th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster offered a timely opportunity for an expert assessment of the current situation and suggestions for approaches to managing the information associated with the site and surrounding contaminated territories.
The great quantity of data coming from the contaminated region was and is very difficult to use without he aid of modern information technologies, especially Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). Application of these technologies, and related expertise, became crucial to the region's economic recovery and sustainability planning. Given the real possibility of a similar accident at nuclear facilities elsewhere around the world, the development of recovery strategies based on experience gained at Chernobyl, using modern scientific methods and technologies, will be invaluable in the future. The presentations and discussion reported in the book have led to some key conclusions. Image maps derived from satellite imagery are the most economical, up to date and readily available basis for Chernobyl-related applications, as well as for other future applications. The study of soil-plant transfer of radionuclides afforded comparatively much more reliable data. GIS in association with adequate knowledge is a valuable tool in decision making and modelling of contaminated areas and objects.

Please note this is a 'Palgrave to Order' title (PTO). Stock of this book requires shipment from an overseas supplier. It will be delivered to you within 12 weeks. This book tells the history of nuclear age urban planning, civil defence and continuity of government programs in one of the nation's most critical Cold War targets: Washington, D.C.

The book deals with various consequences of major nuclear accidents, such as in 1986 in Chernobyl and in 2011 in Fukushima. The public is extremely interested in learning more about the movements and risks posed by radiation in the environment related to food supply and food safety. Radionuclides are found in air, water, soil and even in us not only after nuclear accidents because they occur also in nature. Every day, we ingest and inhale radionuclides in our air and food and the water. This book provides a solid underpinning of the basic physical-chemistry and biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthrop radioactivity. The mechanisms of radioactive element transfer in the atmosphere, tropospheric and stratospheric diffusion of radioactivity, environmental contamination from accidents and the impact of atmospheric pollution on the food chain, soil and plants, are analyzed and the analytical methods are illustrated. The question of natural radioactivity concentration in building materials is addressed too. While the book contains many case studies and data for Greece, it is of general value. It contributes to the development of international environmentally safe standards and economically reasonable standard regulations based on justified radiological, social and economical legislation concepts.

Radioactive particles have been released to the environment from a number of sources, including nuclear weapon tests, nuclear accidents and discharges from nuclear installations. Particle characteristics influence the mobility, biological uptake and effects of radionuclides, hence information on these characteristics is essential for assessing environmental impact and risks. This publication presents a series of papers covering sources and source term characterisation, methodologies for characterizing particles, and the impact of particles on the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment. Sources covered include the Chernobyl accident, nuclear weapons accidents at Thule and Palomares accident, the discharges from Dounreay and Krashnoyarsk, and depleted uranium in Kosovo and Kuwait. The overall aim is that an increased understanding of particle characteristics and behavior will help to reduce some of the uncertainties in environmental impact and risk assessment for particle contaminated areas.

The goal of this book is to examine the complex state of radioactivity in the environment, and to understand the interplay of its two principal sources: man-made and natural. The text examines human contributions to release of radionuclides, with an eye to future reductions, and assesses natural occurrences in an evaluation of baseline radioactivity.

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.

This volume - like the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on which it is based - addresses the fundamental science that contributes to our understanding of the potential risks from ecological terrorism, i.e. dirty bombs, atomic explosions, intentional release of radionuclides into water or air. Both effects on human health (DNA and systemic effects) and on ecosystems are detailed, with particular focus on environmentally relevant low-dose ranges. The state-of-the-art contributions to the book are authored by leading experts; they tackle the relevant questions from the perspectives of radiation genetics, radiobiology, radioecology, radiation epidemiology and risk assessment.

This edited book provides an insight into the new approaches, challenges and opportunities that characterise open source intelligence (OSINT) at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It does so by considering the impacts of OSINT on three important contemporary security issues: nuclear proliferation, humanitarian crises and terrorism.

Presented here is the story of the mining and sale of uranium and radium ore through biographical vignettes, chemistry, physics, geology, geography, occupational health, medical utilization, environmental safety and industrial history. Included are the people and places involved over the course of over 90 years of interconnected mining and sale of radium and uranium, finally ending in 1991 with the abandonment of radium paint and medical devices, Soviet nuclear parity, and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

Presents a comprehensive approach to the open questions in solar cosmic ray research and includes consistent and detailed considerations of conceptual, observational, theoretical, experimental and applied aspects of the field. The results of solar cosmic ray (SCR) investigations from 1942 to the present are summarized in this book. It treats the research questions in a self-contained form in all of its associations, from fundamental astrophysical aspects to geophysical, aeronautical and cosmonautical applications. A large amount of new data is included, which has been accumulated during the last several decades of space research. This second edition contains numerous updates and corrections to the text, figures and references. The author has also added several new sections about GLEs and radiation hazards. In addition, an extensive bibliography is provided, which covers non-partially the main achievements and failures in the field. This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers in solar physics and space science.

The workshop attracted wide participation from relevant Russian and western organizations. International expertise from several related fields went together to produce a thorough understanding of the present status and how to develop the use of overall risk assessments and environmental impact assessments to ensure a sound use of resources when carrying out the tremendous work that must be carried out to clean up the cold war legacy. Important conclusions and recommendations have been produced and set out in the main report, providing a good basis for further development.

Such development should note that safety and environmental performance can be addressed at three levels:

1. Compliance-focused;
2. Beyond compliance, towards best practice; and
3. Continuous improvement.

The aim is to progress from a) to b) and eventually reach c). The levels refer both to operatorsa (TM) performance and regulatorsa (TM) and other stakeholdersa (TM) expectations.

Fundamentally, compliance cannot be achieved without the application of environmental impact assessment and risk assessment a" to judge whether protection objectives have been met. Major progress has been made towards developing common methodologies, although there are still improvements to be made, including a common understanding of objectives and interpretation of results. In addition, improved assessment capabilities are required to help distinguish multiply characterised options within a process of options assessment. In turn, this has to rely on broader holistic understanding of the issues as well as wide stakeholder involvement.

From the viewpoint of the proponents ofany new development, the preparation of an environmental statement in parallel with project design provides a useful framework within which environmental considerations and design development can interact. Environmental analysis may indicate ways in which the project can be modified to avoid possible adverse effects, for example through considering more environmentally friendly alternatives. Taking these steps is likely to make the formal regulatory and planning approval stages run more smoothly.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 led Japan, and many other countries, to change their energy policies. David Elliott reviews the disaster and its global implications, asking whether, despite continued backing by some governments, the growing opposition to nuclear power means the end of the global nuclear renaissance.

A practical guide to radiation safety

Many health and scientific professionals require a basic understanding of radiological safety principles, even and especially if they are not specialists in radiological health. Principles of Radiological Health and Safety is designed for this purpose as well as a resource for safety personnel who also handle radiation safety duties. It is a text of basic concepts needed in broad-based protection programs, with real-world examples and practice problems to demonstrate principles and hone skills.

Resource data for practical problems in radiation protection are provided along with illustrative examples of their use. For example, modes and energies of radioactive transformation, radiation attenuation and absorption, dose coefficients, and environmental transport parameters are included for many of the common circumstances encountered in laboratory and industrial settings. these are cross referenced to standard compendiums for straightforward use when more in-depth listings need to be consulted. Other topics include:

• Atom structure and radioactivity
• Radiation protection standards and programs
• Radiation interactions and dose
• Environmental radiological assessment
• Radiation shielding
• Radon
• Internal radiation dosimetry
• Radioactive waste

Safety professionals as well as students and teachers will find Principles of Radiological Health and Safety to be an invaluable addition to their professional and academic libraries.

The 17 chapters of this book grew out of the tutorial lectures given by leading world-class experts at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Effects of Space Weather on Technology Infrastructure" - ESPRIT, which was held in Rhodes on March 25-29, 2004. All manuscripts were refereed and subsequently meticulously edited by the editor to ensure the highest quality for this monograph. I owe particular thanks to the lecturers of the ESPRIT Advanced Research Workshop for producing these excellent tutorial reviews, which convey the essential knowledge and the latest advances in our field. Due to the breadth, extensive literature citations and quality of the reviews we expect this publication to serve extremely well as a reference book. Multimedia material referring to individual chapters of the book is accessible on the accompanying CD. The aim of ESPRIT was to assess existing knowledge and identify future actions regarding monitoring, forecasting and mitigation of space weather induced malfunction and damage of vital technological systems operating in space and on the ground.

In recent decades radiobiologists' efforts have been directed at identifying the mechanisms of radiation effects; the general mechanisms have since been studied extensively. This book describes and analyzes radiation-induced adaptation as processes produced in cells, tissues, and populations. This viewpoint helps to understand the nature and factors of induced processes, to determine the characteristics of observed radiation effects and their limitations. The investigations presented here were founded on proper lab experiments, ecological studies of plant population growth near an operating nuclear power plant and a thorough epidemiological examination of human populations living in territories polluted fifty years ago, as well as on relevant published data. This research demonstrates the radiation-induced adaptation processes that continue even when the radiation itself is no longer at a critical background level. The investigations utilized the method of statistical modeling on the basis of distributions on the number of abnormalities. This method allows us to investigate the processes induced by low-dose factors when accompanied by Darwinian selection in different systems; the distribution parameters can then be used to study the characteristics of adaptation processes and system resistance. The consequences of background-level radiation continue to provoke debate, and the mathematical bases of the adaptation model are shown, while due consideration is paid to the components of adaptation: instability, selection, and proliferation. The book will be especially useful to specialists in radiation pollution, ecology, epidemiology, and radiology for studies of radiation-induced processes; the method presented here can also be adapted to investigate low-dose effects in other fields. In addition, the book presents a number of reviews in the fields of radiation biology, including pioneering investigations in Russia which were previously unavailable to Western scientists.

This is the first book to cover actinide nano research. It is of interest both for fundamental research into the chemistry and physics of f-block elements as well as for applied researchers such as those studying the long-term safety of nuclear waste disposal and developing remediation strategies.

The authors cover important issues of the formation of actinide nano-particles, their properties and structure, environmental behavior of colloids and nanoparticles related to the safe disposal of nuclear wastes, modeling and advanced methods of characterization at the nano-scale.

High-level nuclear waste (HLW) is a controversial and risky issue. For the next 100 years, the HLW will be subject to policy decisions and value assessments. Physically safe, technologically stable, and socio-economically sustainable HLW-management will top the agenda. That must be accomplished in a society whose segments are both stable and in a rapid state of flux, under the influence of global as well as national factors, private interests as well as the vagaries of national politics. Among the challenges to be faced is how to codify responsibilities of nuclear industry, governments and international organisations, and any adopted management policy must attain legitimacy at the local, national, regional and global levels. All such considerations raise questions about the practical and theoretical knowledge. This special issue book will address these questions by exploring HLW-management in Canada, France, Germany, India, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Special emphasis will be placed on highlighting national context, current trends and uncertainties, with relevance to a socially sustainable contemporary and future HLW-management.

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.

It is only with the ending of the Cold War that the issue of environmental hazards at many former nuclear testing sites around the world has attracted international scientific interest. This book discusses the environmental, ecological, and health problems associated with nuclear testing. Topics treated include dose assessment, risk, speciation and transport of radionuclides, measurement and separation of radionuclides, and remedial options. The nuclear test sites examined include the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (Kazakhstan), the Nevada test Site (USA), the Pacific atolls, and the Maralinga Test Site (Australia). The volume also discusses the additional release sites of Chelyabinsk (Russia), Chernobyl (Ukraine), Palomares (Spain), Los Alamos (USA), and others. A valuable compendium of radiological problems for a wide spectrum of readers, from non-specialist to expert.

First published in 1989, Chernobyl: The Long Shadow offers a balanced review of what happened there, why and how it happened, and what the main lessons and implications of the accident are.

It looks back on events during and after the disaster, in particular reviewing how it and the radiation fallout were dealt with in different countries and looks forward to how the incident might affect the nuclear power industry around the world. The book explores the significance of the accident within the Soviet Union, considers its impact on public confidence in nuclear power, and reviews what improvements are necessary in emergency planning throughout the rest of the world.

It is written from an inter-disciplinary perspective; based on detailedscienctific research, which is described in non-specialist terms, it considers themes like attitudes to nuclear power and political reaction to the accident itself. It sets the Chernobyl accident into a proper context.

Chernobyl: The Long Shadow will appeal to students and teachers of geography, environmental science, international politics, nuclear physics, and to anyone interested in current affairs and environmental problems.

High-level nuclear waste (HLW) is a controversial and risky issue. For the next 100 years, the HLW will be subject to policy decisions and value assessments. Physically safe, technologically stable, and socio-economically sustainable HLW-management will top the agenda. That must be accomplished in a society whose segments are both stable and in a rapid state of flux, under the influence of global as well as national factors, private interests as well as the vagaries of national politics. Among the challenges to be faced is how to codify responsibilities of nuclear industry, governments and international organisations, and any adopted management policy must attain legitimacy at the local, national, regional and global levels. All such considerations raise questions about the practical and theoretical knowledge. This special issue book will address these questions by exploring HLW-management in Canada, France, Germany, India, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Special emphasis will be placed on highlighting national context, current trends and uncertainties, with relevance to a socially sustainable contemporary and future HLW-management.

This book focuses on the processing, materials design, characterisation, and properties of polymer composites and nanocomposites for use as electromagnetic radiation shielding materials and to enhance radiation shielding capacity in order to meet the safety requirements for use in medical X-ray imaging facilities. It presents an in-depth analysis of materials synthesis methods such as melt-mixing, ion-implantation, solution casting and electrospinning. In addition, it measures the X-ray attenuation behaviour of fabricated composites and nanocomposites in four major types of X-ray equipment, namely general radiography, mammography, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy units. Given its scope, the book will benefit researchers, engineers, scientists and practitioners in the fields of medical imaging, diagnostic radiology and radiation therapy.

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

An exploration of how and why Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and India have initiated and developed nuclear energy programs and what challenges they face today. Were the nuclear programs driven by the low energy endowment, a desire to pursue international prestige, national security concerns, environmental pollution or economic development?

This book describes essential and effective management for reliably ensuring public safety from radioactive wastes in Japan. This is the first book to cover many aspects of wastes from the nuclear fuel cycle to research and medical use, allowing readers to understand the characterization, treatment and final disposal of generated wastes, performance assessment, institutional systems, and social issues such as intergenerational ethics. Exercises at the end of each chapter help to understand radioactive waste management in context.