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Author: Dewey B. Larson Publisher: ISBN: Category : Atomic theory Languages : en Pages : 162
Book Description
"Perhaps the most surprising discovery that awaits anyone who turns the light of critical inquiry on the current theory of the atom is the extent to which the scientic profession has been willing to sacrifice logic and consistency in order to keep this cherished theory from being destroyed by the advance of knowledge." -- P. 5.
Author: Dewey B. Larson Publisher: ISBN: Category : Atomic theory Languages : en Pages : 162
Book Description
"Perhaps the most surprising discovery that awaits anyone who turns the light of critical inquiry on the current theory of the atom is the extent to which the scientic profession has been willing to sacrifice logic and consistency in order to keep this cherished theory from being destroyed by the advance of knowledge." -- P. 5.
Author: Jim Mahaffey Publisher: Open Road Media ISBN: 1480447749 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 664
Book Description
A “delightfully astute” and “entertaining” history of the mishaps and meltdowns that have marked the path of scientific progress (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Radiation: What could go wrong? In short, plenty. From Marie Curie carrying around a vial of radium salt because she liked the pretty blue glow to the large-scale disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima, dating back to the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters. In this lively book, long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy James Mahaffey looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns. Every incident, while taking its toll, has led to new understanding of the mighty atom—and the fascinating frontier of science that still holds both incredible risk and great promise.
Author: Serhii Plokhy Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 1324021055 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 289
Book Description
A chilling account of more than half a century of nuclear catastrophes, by the author of the “definitive” (Economist) Cold War history, Nuclear Folly. Almost 145,000 Americans fled their homes in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in late March 1979, hoping to save themselves from an invisible enemy: radiation. The reactor at the nearby Three Mile Island nuclear power plant had gone into partial meltdown, and scientists feared an explosion that could spread radiation throughout the eastern United States. Thankfully, the explosion never took place—but the accident left deep scars in the American psyche, all but ending the nation’s love affair with nuclear power. In Atoms and Ashes, Serhii Plokhy recounts the dramatic history of Three Mile Island and five more accidents that that have dogged the nuclear industry in its military and civil incarnations: the disastrous fallout caused by the testing of the hydrogen bomb in the Bikini Atoll in 1954; the Kyshtym nuclear disaster in the USSR, which polluted a good part of the Urals; the Windscale fire, the worst nuclear accident in the UK’s history; back to the USSR with Chernobyl, the result of a flawed reactor design leading to the exodus of 350,000 people; and, most recently, Fukushima in Japan, triggered by an earthquake and a tsunami, a disaster on a par with Chernobyl and whose clean-up will not take place in our lifetime. Through the stories of these six terrifying incidents, Plokhy explores the risks of nuclear power, both for military and peaceful purposes, while offering a vivid account of how individuals and governments make decisions under extraordinary circumstances. Today, there are 440 nuclear reactors operating throughout the world, with nuclear power providing 10 percent of global electricity. Yet as the world seeks to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change, the question arises: Just how safe is nuclear energy?
Author: International Atomic Energy Agency Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 9462654956 Category : Administrative law Languages : en Pages : 333
Book Description
This open access book traces the journey of nuclear law: its origins, how it has developed, where it is now, and where it is headed. As a discipline, this highly specialized body of law makes it possible for us to benefit from the life-saving applications of nuclear science and technology, including diagnosing cancer as well as avoiding and mitigating the effects of climate change. This book seeks to give readers a glimpse into the future of nuclear law, science and technology. It intends to provoke thought and discussion about how we can maximize the benefits and minimize the risks inherent in nuclear science and technology. This compilation of essays presents a global view in discipline as well as in geography. The book is aimed at representatives of governments -- including regulators, policymakers and lawmakers -- as well representatives of international organizations and the legal and insurance sectors. It will be of interest to all those keen to better understand the role of law in enabling the safe, secure, and peaceful use of nuclear technology around the world. The contributions in this book are written by leading experts, including the IAEA's Director General, and discuss the four branches of nuclear law -- safety, security, safeguards and nuclear liability -- and the interaction of nuclear law with other fields of national and international law.
Author: Victor J. Stenger Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1616147547 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 411
Book Description
This history of atomism, from Democritus to the recent discovery of the Higgs boson, chronicles one of the most successful scientific hypotheses ever devised. Originating separately in both ancient Greece and India, the concept of the atom persisted for centuries, despite often running afoul of conventional thinking. Until the twentieth century, no direct evidence for atoms existed. Today it is possible to actually observe atoms using a scanning tunneling microscope. In this book, physicist Victor J. Stenger makes the case that, in the final analysis, atoms and the void are all that exists. The book begins with the story of the earliest atomists - the ancient Greek philosophers Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus, and the Latin poet Lucretius. As the author notes, the idea of elementary particles as the foundation of reality had many opponents throughout history - from Aristotle to Christian theologians and even some nineteenth-century chemists and philosophers. While theists today accept that the evidence for the atomic theory of matter is overwhelming, they reject the atheistic implications of that theory. In conclusion, the author underscores the main point made throughout this work: the total absence of empirical facts and theoretical arguments to support the existence of any component to reality other than atoms and the void can be taken as proof beyond a reasonable doubt that such a component is nowhere to be found.
Author: Gar Smith Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing ISBN: 160358434X Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 323
Book Description
Nuclear power is not clean, cheap, or safe. With Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, the nuclear industry's record of catastrophic failures now averages one major disaster every decade. After three US-designed plants exploded in Japan, many countries moved to abandon reactors for renewables. In the United States, however, powerful corporations and a compliant government still defend nuclear power-while promising billion-dollar bailouts to operators. Each new disaster demonstrates that the nuclear industry and governments lie to "avoid panic," to preserve the myth of "safe, clean" nuclear power, and to sustain government subsidies. Tokyo and Washington both covered up Fukushima's radiation risks and-when confronted with damning evidence-simply raised the levels of "acceptable" risk to match the greater levels of exposure. Nuclear Roulette dismantles the core arguments behind the nuclear-industrial complex's "Nuclear Renaissance." While some critiques are familiar-nuclear power is too costly, too dangerous, and too unstable-others are surprising: Nuclear Roulette exposes historic links to nuclear weapons, impacts on Indigenous lands and lives, and the ways in which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission too often takes its lead from industry, rewriting rules to keep failing plants in compliance. Nuclear Roulette cites NRC records showing how corporations routinely defer maintenance and lists resulting "near-misses" in the US, which average more than one per month. Nuclear Roulette chronicles the problems of aging reactors, uncovers the costly challenge of decommissioning, explores the industry's greatest seismic risks-not on California's quake-prone coast but in the Midwest and Southeast-and explains how solar flares could black out power grids, causing the world's 400-plus reactors to self-destruct. This powerful exposé concludes with a roundup of proven and potential energy solutions that can replace nuclear technology with a "Renewable Renaissance," combined with conservation programs that can cleanse the air, and cool the planet.
Author: Richard L. Meehan Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 9780262131995 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 190
Book Description
With wit and thoughtful compassion, Richard Meehan presents one of the most perplexing of contemporary moral predicaments, one that arises in every attempt to assess potentially hazardous technologies. He focuses on the longrunning controversy over suspected earthquake faults near the nation's first corporately owned nuclear test reactor at Vallecitos, California, and uses this account of "the politics of expertise" to probe the nature of scientific truth and its relationship to the determination of public safety. At Vallecitos, Meehan points out, the opinions of the "experts" were radically divided. Where one group saw clear and ominous evidence of an earthquake fault in trenches dug at this showpiece site, others saw only the mark of an ancient landslide. How did these experts arrive at their opinions? Were they simply representing corporate, as opposed to environmentalist, points of view? And how are the public regulatory agencies charged with deciding such issues supposed to balance these seemingly irreconcilable opinions? The Atom and the Faultexplores these crucial questions as the issue of the earthquake safety of nuclear power plants continues to grow into a struggle encompassing government regulatory bodies, public utilities, private industry, engineers, geologists, and citizen activists. It paints candid portraits of the principal expert players, clarifies the difficult and often delicate interplay of honesty and loyalties among them, and lucidly explains the technical issues and viewpoints involved. As a professional participant in several environmental controversies in which so-called scientific facts were represented by opposing points of view, Meehan is uniquely qualified to tell this tale. He is a consultant to industry, government agencies, and law firms specializing in forecasting and damage assessment related to earthquakes and land failures, and an adjunct professor in the Values, Technology, Science, and Society program at Stanford University. His first book, Getting Sued and Other Tales of the Engineering Life was published by The MIT Press in 1981.
Author: Dewey B. Larson
Author: Dewey B. Larson
Author: Dewey B. Larson
Author: Joseph John Thomson
Author: Jim Mahaffey
Author: Serhii Plokhy
Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Author: Dewey B. Larson
Author: Victor J. Stenger
Author: Gar Smith
Author: Richard L. Meehan