| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
1. Global Climate Change: Real or Myth? -- What Is the Debate About? -- The IPCC and International Conventions -- The Greenhouse Effect -- Skeptical Politicians and Pundits -- Skeptical Scientists -- Historical Temperature and Greenhouse Gas Record -- The Last 10,000 Years of Climate: The Holocene -- Recent Changes in Temperature and CO2 -- Melting Glaciers and Rising Seas -- Models -- Response to Singer and Avery -- Predictions of Future Global Warming and Consequences -- Sea Level and Acidification -- Global Weirding -- 2. Where Our Energy Comes From -- A Brief History of Energy -- Coal -- Oil and Natural Gas -- Uranium -- How Much Energy Do We Use and Where Does It Come From? -- World Energy Usage -- What Can Be Done to Reduce Our Carbon-Intensive Energy Economy? -- 3. The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Coal and Gas -- Coal -- Anatomy of a Coal-Fired Plant -- Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Other Pollutants -- Mining and Health Hazards -- How Much Is There? -- Carbon Capture and Storage -- Natural Gas -- How Much Is There? -- Greenhouse Gas Emissions -- Fracking -- 4. The Siren Song of Renewable Energy -- Solar -- Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Power -- Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) -- Solar Heating -- Limitations of Solar Power -- Wind -- Limitations of Wind Power -- Summary -- 5. Back to the Future: Nuclear Power -- Anatomy of a Reactor -- Advantages of Nuclear Power -- Baseload Power -- Greenhouse Gas Emission -- Location and Footprint -- Cost -- Subsidies for Nuclear and Renewables -- Advanced Reactor Technology -- Can Nuclear Replace Coal? -- Arguments against Nuclear Power -- 6. The World of the Atom -- What Is Radiation? -- Black Body Radiation: The Quantum -- The Nuclear Atom -- The Quantum Atom -- The Nucleus -- Radioactivity: Decay Processes -- Fission -- Summary -- 7. How Dangerous Is Radiation? -- Interactions of Radiation with Matter -- Electromagnetic Radiation (Photon) Interactions -- Charged Particle Interactions -- Neutron Interactions -- What Is a Dose of Radiation? -- Effects of Radiation on DNA and Cells -- How Does Radiation Cause Cancer? -- What Are the Risks? -- Death from Radiation -- Cancer from Radiation -- Hereditary Effects of Radiation -- How Bad Is Plutonium? -- Summary -- 8. What Comes Naturally and Not So Naturally -- Natural Background Radiation -- Cosmic Radiation -- Primordial Terrestrial Radiation -- Medical Exposure -- How Dangerous Is Background Radiation? -- 9. Nuclear Waste -- What Is Nuclear Waste? -- The Long and the Short of Waste Storage -- Yucca Mountain -- Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) -- Recycling Spent Nuclear Fuel -- Making New Fuel from Recycled "Waste" -- Summary -- 10. About Those Accidents -- The Scare, March 16, 1979 -- Three Mile Island, March 28, 1979 -- How the Accident Happened -- Consequences of TMI -- Chernobyl, April 26, 1986 -- How the Accident Happened -- The Hazardous Radioisotopes -- Health Consequences -- Environmental Consequences -- A Trip to Chernobyl -- Consequences for Nuclear Power -- Fukushima, March 11, 2011 -- How the Accident Happened -- Health and Environmental Consequences -- Consequences for Nuclear Power -- Public Perception of Risks from Nuclear Power -- 11. The Quest for Uranium -- Mining for Uranium -- Shinkolobwe -- Shiprock -- Milling -- In Situ Recovery -- Enrichment -- Fuel Fabrication -- World Resources of Uranium -- Megatons to Megawatts -- Is There Enough Uranium for a Nuclear Renaissance? -- Breeder Reactors -- Thorium -- Summary -- 12. Now What? -- Myth 1: Radiation Is Extremely Dangerous and We Don't Understand It -- Myth 2: There Is No Solution to the Nuclear Waste Produced by Nuclear Power -- Myth 3: Nuclear Power Is Unsafe and Nuclear Accidents Have Killed Hundreds of Thousands of People -- Myth 4: Uranium Will Run Out Too Soon and Mining It Generates So Much Carbon Dioxide That It Loses Its Carbon-Free Advantage -- Myth 5: Nuclear Power Is So Expensive It Can't Survive in the Marketplace -- Afterword -- Earth's Energy Balance -- Radiative Forcing -- The IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) -- Energy -- Power -- Powers of 10 -- Radioactivity |
| Summary |
"Makes a case for nuclear energy as a clean-energy solution."-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Nuclear energy -- Environmental aspects
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Global warming -- Prevention
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Nuclear industry -- Safety measures
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Nuclear industry -- Accidents
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Radioactive waste disposal.
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SCIENCE -- Energy.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Real Estate -- General.
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Global warming -- Prevention
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Nuclear energy -- Environmental aspects
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Nuclear industry -- Accidents
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Nuclear industry -- Safety measures
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Radioactive waste disposal
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780199344581 |
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0199344582 |
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1306197449 |
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9781306197441 |
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