Actions for Too hot to touch : the problem of high-level nuclear waste
Too hot to touch : the problem of high-level nuclear waste / William M. Alley and Rosemarie Alley
- Author
- Alley, William M.
- Published
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- Physical Description
- 1 online resource (xiv, 370 pages) : illustrations
- Additional Creators
- Alley, Rosemarie
Access Online
- Contents
- Acknowledgments -- Units -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I The problem -- 1 The awakening -- The salt of the earth -- A technology ahead of itself -- 2 Brainstorming -- 3 The ocean as a dumping ground -- Radioactive waste disposal at sea -- Subseabed disposal -- 4 Radioactivity and atomic energy -- Radioactivity 101 -- The periodic table: chemistrys rosetta stone -- Radiation and its effects -- Nuclear fission -- 5 The Cold War legacy -- Hanford -- Savannah River site -- Idaho National Laboratory -- Tank cleanup- in the eye of the beholder -- Awash with plutonium -- 6 The peaceful atom and its wastes -- Spent nuclear fuel -- Uranium enrichment -- 7 Recycling -- Plutonium recycling and nuclear proliferation -- Fast reactors -- Nuclear alchemy -- GNEP -- 8 Dry cask storage -- 9 Interim storage -- 10 A can of worms -- The needles meeting -- The Beatty controversy -- 11 WIPP -- Curious. Very curious -- The story of WIPP -- Part II The mountain -- 12 The search for a geologic repository -- An energy crisis and a new agency -- Moving past Lyons -- Time to reassess -- Congress gets its act together -- 13 Nevada wins the lottery -- Narrowing the first-round choices -- The second round -- 14 The Nevada Test Site -- 15 Yucca Mountain -- Politics enter the picture -- The Nevada initiative -- Scientific battles -- Another inconvenient truth -- 16 How long is long? -- The story of ice -- The big dig -- The pacemaker of the ice ages -- Devils hole -- An unsolved mystery -- 17 Leaving almost no stone unturned -- Total system performance assessment -- The EPA standards -- TSPA credibility -- Natural analogues -- Exploratory Studies Facility -- How hot is hot? -- 18 Surprise -- Uncertainty in the UZ -- Nature versus engineering -- Plutonium transport at the NTS -- Ground zero at Yucca Mountain -- 19 Shake & bake -- Volcanic hazards. and Seismic hazards -- 20 The project gets into hot water -- Upwelling water -- Fluid inclusions -- A compact Pleistocene record -- The scientific legacy of Yucca Mountain -- Part III No solution in sight -- 21 A new President, new policies -- The Blue Ribbon Commission -- Looking further afield -- 22 Nuclear waste and our energy future -- Lack of interest -- A preoccupation with predictions into the far-distant future -- Crisis of confidence -- Recognizing sound science and its limitations -- NIMS and NIMBY -- Appendix Discussion questions -- Science and risk -- Communication and the public -- Policy and politics -- General concluding questions -- References -- Index.
- Summary
- "Today, the issue of waste management is as prominent as reactor safety in the controversies surrounding nuclear power and is particularly topical in the US since the 2010 closure of the Yucca Mountain repository project. William and Rosemarie Alley provide an engaging and authoritative account of the controversies and possibilities surrounding disposal of nuclear waste in the US, with reference also to other countries around the world. The book tells the full history from the beginnings after World War II up to today, bringing to life the pioneering science, the political wrangling and media drama, and the not-in-my-backyard communities fighting to put waste elsewhere. Written in down-to-earth language, by an expert with key involvement in the Yucca Mountain project, this is a timely book for public interest groups, affected communities, policymakers, environmentalists and research scientists working in related fields and anyone interested in finding out more about this important issue"--
"When the nuclear energy industry was launched in the 1950s, Robert Oppenheimer dismissed the waste problem as "unimportant." Over a half-century later, the waste issue is as prominent as reactor safety in the international controversies surrounding nuclear power. It is particularly topical in the US since the 2010 closure of the Yucca Mountain repository project. With no long-term plan in sight, high-level radioactive waste remains scattered across 121 sites in 39 States. William and Rosemarie Alley provide an engaging and authoritative account of the controversies and possibilities surrounding disposal of nuclear waste in the US, with reference also to the difficulties and progress of other countries around the world. The book tells the full history from the early days after World War II up to the present time, with an insightful perspective drawn from William Alley's expertise in the field, including leading the USGS survey of Yucca Mountain. Stories of key players bring to life the pioneering science, the political wrangling and media drama, and the not-in-my-backyard communities fighting to put the waste somewhere else."-- - Subject(s)
- ISBN
- 9781139840552 (electronic bk.)
113984055X (electronic bk.)
9781139343176 (electronic bk.)
1139343173 (electronic bk.)
9781139842921
1139842927
9781139845281 (e-book)
1139845284 (e-book)
9781107030114
1107030110 - Bibliography Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 43264514