![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Energy industries & utilities > Nuclear power industries
South Africa's Bomb kept the world guessing for years. Six-and-a- half nuclear bombs had been secretly built and destroyed, former South African President F.W. de Klerk announced in 1993. No other country has ever voluntarily destroyed its nuclear arsenal. From 1975 Nic von Wielligh was involved in the production of nuclear weapons material, the dismantling of the nuclear weapons and the provision of evidence of South Africa's bona fides to the international community. The International Atomic Energy Agency declared South Africa's Initial Report to be the most comprehensive and professional that they had ever received. In this book the nuclear physicist and his daughter Lydia von Wielligh-Steyn tell the gripping story of the splitting of the atom and the power it releases. It is an account of ground-breaking research and the scientists responsible; it deals with uranium enrichment, the arms race and South Africa's secret programme. The Bomb: South Africa's Nuclear Programme is a story of nuclear explosions, espionage, smuggling of nuclear materials and swords that became ploughshares.
Award-winning investigative journalist Karyn Maughan and former National Treasury insider Kirsten Pearson reveal the inside story behind South Africa's controversial nuclear deal. Through insider accounts, audio recordings and confidential minutes, the authors piece together the Zuma administration's secret dealings with Russia and how it went to extraordinary and dark lengths to conclude the nuke before Zuma's time ran out.
On 26 April 1986, the unthinkable happened near the Ukrainian town of Pripyat: two massive steam explosions ruptured No. 4 Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, immediately killing 30 people and setting off the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosions were followed by an open-air reactor core fire that released huge amounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere for the next nine days, spreading across the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and especially neighbouring Belarus, where around 70% of the waste landed. The following clean-up operation involved more than half a million personnel at a cost of $68 billion, and a further 4,000 people were estimated to have died from disaster-related illnesses in the following 20 years. Some 350,000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident (including 95 villages in Belarus), and much of the area returned to the wild, with the nearby city of Pripyat now a ghost town. Chernobyl provides a photographic exploration of the catastrophe and its aftermath in 180 authentic photos. See the twisted wreckage of No. 4 Reactor, the cause of the nuclear disaster; marvel at historic photos of the clean-up operation, with helicopters spraying decontamination liquid and liquidators manually clearing radioactive debris; see the huge cooling pond used to cool the reactors, and which today is home to abundant wildlife, despite the radiation; explore the ghost town of Pripyat, with its decaying apartment blocks, empty basketball courts, abandoned amusement park, wrecked schools, and deserted streets.
The German abandonment of nuclear power represents one of the most successful popular revolts against technocratic thinking in modern times-the triumph of a dynamic social movement, encompassing a broad swath of West Germans as well as East German dissident circles, over political, economic, and scientific elites. Taking on Technocracy gives a brisk account of this dramatic historical moment, showing how the popularization of scientific knowledge fostered new understandings of technological risk. Combining analyses of social history, popular culture, social movement theory, and histories of science and technology, it offers a compelling narrative of a key episode in the recent history of popular resistance.
Accidents and natural disasters involving nuclear power plants such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the recent meltdown at Fukushima are rare, but their effects are devastating enough to warrant increased vigilance in addressing safety concerns. Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation and Control Systems for Safety and Security evaluates the risks inherent to nuclear power and methods of preventing accidents through computer control systems and other such emerging technologies. Students and scholars as well as operators and designers will find useful insight into the latest security technologies with the potential to make the future of nuclear energy clean, safe, and reliable.
In recent decades, the number of IAEA Member States planning to extend the operation of their nuclear power plants (NPPs) beyond the time frame originally anticipated has steadily increased. These decisions have been influenced by the significant economic advantages offered by the long term operation (LTO) of existing NPPs. This Safety Report complements IAEA Safety Standards Series Nos SSR?2/2 (Rev. 1), Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Commissioning and Operation, and SSG?48, Ageing Management and Development of a Programme for Long Term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants. It provides information on selected topics from the latter, and specifically, it addresses data collection and record keeping, scope setting for structures, systems and components, plant programmes, corrective action programmes, and documentation of ageing management and LTO assessment. The publication focuses on NPPs throughout their lifetime, including operation beyond the time frame originally established for their operation and decommissioning, while considering the different reactor designs that exist around the world. It is also relevant for facilities for spent fuel storage and radioactive waste management at NPPs. It may also be used as a basis for managing the ageing of other nuclear installations and for radioactive waste 2 management facilities. This Safety Report is intended to provide information for operating organizations but may be also used by regulatory bodies.
The objectives of nuclear criticality safety are to prevent a self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. This Safety Guide provides guidance and recommendations on how to meet the relevant requirements for ensuring subcriticality when dealing with fissile material and for planning the response to criticality accidents. The recommendations address how to ensure subcriticality in systems involving fissile materials during normal operation and during credible abnormal conditions, from initial design through commissioning, operation and decommissioning. This publication also provides recommendations on identification of credible abnormal conditions; performance of criticality safety assessments; verification, benchmarking and validation of calculation methods; safety measures to ensure subcriticality; and management of criticality safety. The guidance and recommendations are applicable to both regulatory bodies and operating organizations.
As Member States seek to extend the operating lifetime of nuclear power plants beyond that which was originally licensed, safety oversight of ageing management and long term operation (LTO) has become increasingly important. This Safety Report provides technical and practical information based on existing regulatory approaches and practices of Member States, and the application of the IAEA Safety Standards. This includes requirements and pre?conditions of the regulatory body for LTO, authorization processes applied to LTO, and regulatory practices and documentation to prepare for and implement LTO. The report is intended for nuclear safety authorities, operating organizations, licensees, manufacturers, designers and technical support organizations considering authorization for LTO of nuclear power plants.
The central questions of this book are how technologies decline, how societies deal with technologies in decline, and how governance may be explicitly oriented towards parting with 'undesirable' technology. Surprisingly, these questions are fairly novel. Thus far, the dominant interest in historical, economic, sociological and political studies of technology has been to understand how novelty emerges, how innovation can open up new opportunities and how such processes may be supported. This innovation bias reflects how in the last centuries modern societies have embraced technology as a vehicle of progress. It is timely, however, to broaden the social study of technology and society: next to considering the rise of technologies, their fall should be addressed, too. Dealing with technologies in decline is an important challenge or our times, as socio-technical systems are increasingly part of the problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, social inequalities and geo-political tensions. This volume presents empirical studies of technologies in decline, as well as conceptual clarifications and theoretical deepening. Technologies in Decline presents an emerging research agenda for the study of technological decline, emphasising the need for a plurality of perspectives. Given that destabilisation and discontinuation are seen as a way to accelerate sustainability transitions, this book will be of interest to academics, students and policy makers researching and working in the areas of sustainability science and policy, economic geography, innovation studies, and science and technology studies.
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.
Developing a nuclear power programme is a major undertaking requiring careful planning and preparation. This publication provides guidance for Member States that with to assess the resources required for the development of the infrastructure needed for a nuclear power programme. Resource estimates are presented in person years, to account for economic differences across countries, in terms of labour costs, which may vary significantly. The data are presented in sufficient detail that they can also be used by countries that have decided to expand their nuclear programme after a long period without building any new nuclear power plants.
Requirements for the safe transport of radioactive material are established in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6 (Rev. 1), Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, 2018 Edition. Packages intended for the transport of radioactive material have to be designed to meet applicable national and international regulations. For package designs that require approval by a competent authority, the documentary evidence of compliance with the applicable regulations is commonly known as package design safety report (PDSR). For package designs that do not require competent authority approval, a PDSR would also be an appropriate form of documentary evidence of compliance with the Transport Regulations. This Safety Guide provides recommendations on the preparation of a PDSR to demonstrate compliance of a package design for the transport of radioactive material with the Transport Regulations. This Safety Guide is intended for use by applicants for approval of package designs (when package designs are subject to competent authority approval) as well as by package designers and/or consignors (when package designs do not require competent authority approval). Regulators will benefit from the common structure for the competent authority assessment process, and designers and consignors will find a consistent approach to justify the compliance of a package design with the regulatory requirements.
On 14 April 1912, less than a week into a transatlantic trip from Southampton to New York, the largest luxury cruise liner in the world struck an iceberg off the coast of Labrador, causing the hull to buckle. The massive 50,000 ton ship hailed as 'unsinkable' was soon slipping into the cold Atlantic Ocean, the crew and passengers scrambling to launch lifeboats before being sucked into the deep. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making the sinking one of the deadliest for a single ship up to that time. The sinking has captured the public imagination ever since, in part because of the scale of the tragedy, but also because the ship represented in microcosm Edwardian society, with the super-rich sharing the vessel with poor migrants seeking a new life in North America. Other factors, such as why there were only enough lifeboats to hold half the passengers, also caused controversy and led to changes in maritime safety. In later years many survivors told their stories to the press, and Titanic celebrates these accounts. A final chapter examines the shipwreck today, which has been visited underwater by explorers, scientists and film-makers, and many artifacts recovered as the old liner steadily disintegrates. Titanic offers a compact, insightful photographic history of the sinking and its aftermath in 180 authentic photographs.
There is a growing recognition amongst those involved with the creation and distribution of nuclear power of the value and positive impact of ergonomics, recognition heightened by the realization that safety incidents are rarely the result of purely technical failure. This work provides insights into plant design, performance shaping factors, the fostering of a safety culture, training, selection, alarm design, team performance and data collection.
The German abandonment of nuclear power represents one of the most successful popular revolts against technocratic thinking in modern times-the triumph of a dynamic social movement, encompassing a broad swath of West Germans as well as East German dissident circles, over political, economic, and scientific elites. Taking on Technocracy gives a brisk account of this dramatic historical moment, showing how the popularization of scientific knowledge fostered new understandings of technological risk. Combining analyses of social history, popular culture, social movement theory, and histories of science and technology, it offers a compelling narrative of a key episode in the recent history of popular resistance.
This publication gives practical information and examples on safety analysis principles and methods as well as the contents of licensing documentation needed to support application of IAEA safety standards to nuclear fuel cycle facilities. A systematic methodology is presented, covering the establishment of acceptance criteria, hazard evaluation, identification of postulated initiating events, analysis of accident sequences and consequences. Information is also provided on application of the results of the safety analysis in the design and operational phases, and on appropriate management system processes. The publication applies to all lifetime stages of relevant facilities and for modifications and upgrades. The information presented may be used for periodic safety reviews and consideration of extended lifetime of facilities. With respect to licensing documentation, the publication provides indicative contents and format of the safety analysis report as a higher level document that incorporates the information required at various steps in the licensing and re-licensing process.
This Safety Guide provides specific recommendations on protection against internal and external hazards in the operation of nuclear power plants. It provides new or updated recommendations derived from enhanced understanding of operational aspects of hazards and combinations of hazards. Operating experience gained from incidents and accidents in nuclear power plants around the world has demonstrated that fire can be an important risk contributor in many Member States. However, there are other internal and external hazards that have also to be considered in the design and operation of nuclear power plants. This Safety Guide supersedes and expands the scope of lAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS- G-2. 1, Fire Safety in the Operation of Nuclear Power Plants, to include recommendations on these other hazards.
This title is a crucial linchpin in Atomic Revival studies. Michon Mackedon recounts Nevada's relationship with the nuclear industry and a host of players including the Atomic Energy Commission, the Department of Energy, scientists, military, and journalists. With 'an awareness born of deceit' shared by other Nevadans, Mackedon considers the manipulated language and imagery doled out by the atomic industry to make the unsafe appear safe and the unthinkable, thinkable.
This Safety Guide provides recommendations on the establishment of a framework for safety in accordance with the IAEA safety standards for States deciding on and preparing to embark on a nuclear power programme. In this regard, it proposes 197 safety related actions to be taken in the first three phases of the development of the nuclear power programme, to achieve the foundation for a high level of safety throughout the entire lifetime of the nuclear power plant (NPP). This includes safety in the construction, commissioning, and operation of the NPP and the associated management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, and safety in decommissioning. Thus, it contributes to the building of leadership and management for safety and of an effective safety culture and serves as guidance for self-assessment by all organizations involved in the development of a safety infrastructure.
This publication summarizes the reviewed information distributed in previous IAEA publications and provides an up to date, overall picture of the management of disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRSs) based upon the current status and trends in this field. It incorporates the most recent experience in source management, including newly developed techniques used for DSRS conditioning and storage. Problems encountered and lessons learned are also highlighted in the publication in order to help avoid the mistakes commonly made in the past in managing disused sources.
Nuclear energy is contributing to the long-term solution to stave off climate change. However, current nuclear fission technology accesses only about 1-3% of the nuclear energy content of natural uranium, which is inefficient, and also creates a radioactive waste disposal problem. Combining nuclear fission technology with emerging nuclear fusion technology to create a fusion-fission hybrid would yield extra fusion neutrons to 1) convert much more of the uranium into fissionable material, which would increase efficient utilization of the nuclear fuel resource, and 2) significantly reduce (by fission) the most long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. This book describes fusion-fission hybrid physics and technology. The first parts briefly review nuclear fission principles and describe design and safety of nuclear fission reactors; then the fundamentals of nuclear fusion and fusion reactor concepts are described, together with ongoing and future challenges and anticipated developments in this not-yet matured technology. Chapters cover the scientific basis of nuclear fission and the fission fuel cycle, advanced fission reactors, safety aspects, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear fusion power, future improvements expected, and then the fusion-fission hybrid (FFH) breeder and burner reactor concept principles, with illustrative FFH design concepts, safety analyses, and examples of the use of fusion neutrons for helping to achieve burning and breeding fission fuel cycles. This concise work is essential reading for researchers and policy makers in nuclear energy research and engineering, including advanced students.
The first book to look at how energy companies can develop brands as they move to more sustainable energy solutions. The world is facing climate crisis, and never before has the world been looking at the energy industry to solve the delivery of power in ways that do not damage the planet. Includes insights from energy business leaders and is therefore more than an academic thesis, but a practical guide to resolving these branding and sustainability challenges.
|
![]() ![]() You may like...
The Word of the Month - 10 Years of The…
Andrew Arnon, Benjamin Levy
Hardcover
|