Customer Reviews

Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century: World Nuclear University Press

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Ian Hore-Lacy has written a brilliant introduction to nuclear power in "Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century". The book is written for a generalist audience with an interest in nuclear energy issues. It is both comprehensible and comprehensive, a very difficult task given the complexity of the subject matter. The book is extremely well illustrated, and always provides all necessary background information before delving into deeper subjects: a firm foundation is provided for any reader regardless of their previous knowledge level about nuclear energy.

The book discusses energy demands of the future and the potential role of nuclear power in meeting those demands. The nuclear fuel cycle is fully explained from mining uranium through disposal of high level nuclear waste. Hore-Lacy's presentations argue powerfully for the use of nuclear power without overt editorialization: he lets the science speak for itself. Nuclear safety features and technological improvements in different reactor types from common Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) designs, to very obscure lead-bismuth and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) currently in development are emphasized. Safety on a global level is also a theme of the book, both in explaining the dramatic effect nuclear energy has on lowering greenhouse emissions, as well as containing nuclear material proliferation, with particular emphasis on returning nuclear weapon reactants to use in the civilian electricity production network of the US and Russia.

The book is filled with helpful charts and illustrations, as well as useful appendices and glossaries. One of the most useful references is on page 155, which shows the radioactive decay and half-lives of the uranium, thorium, and actinium series elements.

Anyone who has an interest in nuclear energy, electricity demands and production, environmental safety, or energy independence should read this book. It is an excellent guide to the nuclear industry from both a historical and technological perspective, and is an invaluable reference book.

This book is extremely well written with lots of pictures and charts.

The first chapter deals with energy sources and demand. It points out that electricity is the most useful form of energy and demand for electricity is growing faster than demand for energy.

The second chapter deals with demand and supply for electricity given that it is extremely difficult and expensive to store. Within a day there can be a 20% variation in the demand and different fuels/sources are used to supply base load, and peak load demand. Coal and nuclear supply base load and gas turbines provide peak load. Renewables, such as solar and wind, are not suitable for either base load or peak load because they are intermittent ie they are available when the wind blows or the sun shines rather than all the time (base load) or when everyone wants electricity at the same time (peak load). There is a comparison of coal and nuclear for producing electricity. There is a comparison of the cost of electricity from various fuels in different countries and for the US over time.

Chapter three deals with nuclear power. How many nuclear reactors are there in the world and where are they. How much uranium is there in the world and where is it located. What is the physics of a reactor. How are reactors controlled.

Chapter four deals with the production of enriched uranium which serves as fuel. Uranium ore contains .7% U235 and 99.3% U238. Enriched U is 3% U235. Nuclear bomb grade uranium is 90% U235. This chapter includes a description of advanced reactors including passive safety systems which work without operator intervention or electricity. It describes High Temperature Reactors which can be used to produce hydrogen efficiently and fast neutron reactors which run on "nuclear waste" and could supply 100% of the US electricity needs for 1000 years using depleted uranium left over after enriching uranium. The Toshiba 4S, a nuclear battery, is a very small reactor which will run for 30 years without refueling or maintenance.

Chapter 5 deals with nuclear "waste". In 30 years, 100 nuclear plants, producing 20% of US electricity, have produced 66,000 tons of Waste. If nuclear waste is reprocessed, 98% of the waste can be used as fuel in fast neutron reactors; and a large percentage of the remaining 2% can be used as tracer isotopes in medical applications. It includes a graph showing that the radioactivity of nuclear waste declines below the radioactivity of uranium ore after 2000 years. The fission products comprising the 2% that can't be recycled into the reactor, falls below uranium ore radioactivity after 400 years. There is a description of how nuclear reactors are decommissioned.

Chapter 6 is a description of application of nuclear reactors other than the production of electricity. Hydrogen production for use as a transportation fuel is a major future use. Reactor heat that is not used to produce electricity when the demand is low can be used to produce hydrogen.Nuclear reactors can also be used to convert sea water into fresh water. It can also be used to power ships and space vehicles. And to produce radioisotopes used as tracer in medical diagnosis.

Chapter seven covers the environment, health and safety issued. It discusses greenhouse gas emissions, a comparison of deaths during the production of electricity, a list of the 10 serious reeactor event world wide since 1952.

Chapter 8 deals with avoiding weapons proliferation and chapter 9 provides a history of nuclear energy.

All in all, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in nuclear energy. While it doesn't take any position of nuclear energy issues, it does provide well rounded coverage with lots of facts.

This book by the World Nuclear University Press is a terrifically well crafted primer on the whole topic of nuclear energy and other nuclear technologies. For someone interested in facts, not ideology, this is a fine piece of literature. I am told that the WNU uses this book as a background text in its annual 6-week summer programme in Oxford which is designed to develop a cadre of responsible future leaders for the global nuclear industry.

I agree this is one of the best, and most current, over-views of nuclear energy I have ever read. The fact that Ian Hore-Lacy includes the "front-end" and "back-end" of the nuclear fuel cycle is enlightening. Could I be so bold as to make (2) recommendations for improvement ? One - The statement on page 104 "The Viking and Rover landers on Mars depended on RTG power sources....." is not true. The existing, currently residing on Mars, Rovers Opportunity and Spirit are powered by solar energy ( however future versions are indeed planned to be nuclear powered ). Two - please check the grammer within the last sentence in the 2nd paragraph on page 79 .... "In future reprocessing is likely also to remove the long-lived transuranic elements.....". Other than these (2) small complaints - great job Ian and World Nuclear University Press.

The general public has such a warped view of energy from nuclear reactors. This book is well written and presents an accurate picture of what is going on currently with the new generation nuclear reactors and the handling of nuclear waste. It should be required reading.

With this weeks big news from Japan everyone should buy or otherwise get a copy of this book. Knowledge is power, no pun intended. Anyone with a decent level of technical understanding will come away from reading this book with a basic working understanding of how nuclear power works and how solid modern plants are built.

KDM

I was unable to obtain a copy of this book from Amazon that did not have substantial damage to the cover because they failed to ship it properly. Both copies I ordered were packed in a manila envelope with no padding, causing the books to be bent and crunched during shipment. I can't believe they did this twice, after I told them what had happened to the first one. If this is Amazon's new way of shipping items, they've lost my business! I really needed to read this book for my job.