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The First Nuclear Era: The Life and Times of a Technological Fixer 1994th Edition

by Alvin M. Weinberg (Author)

4.7 33 ratings

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Alvin Weinberg is one of the most influential nuclear engineers & physicists in the U.S., having participated in many high profile projects from the early days of nuclear research on into the 1980s. This book is his autobiography and it's peppered with first-hand accounts of major historical events. He writes about the events of December 2, 1942, when Fermi set into motion the first chain reaction in a uranium pile and goes on to describe what happened during the "First Nuclear Era" a period he admits that has now largely run its course. A proponent of nuclear power, Weinberg also exposed its down- side risks and for years remained in the forefront of strong science administration.

Editorial Reviews

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The First Nuclear Era: The Life And Times Of A Technological Fixer is Alvin Weinberg's autobiography, the memoirs of an influential American nuclear engineer/physicist. These reminiscences date from the dawning of the nuclear age in the early 1940s to the present day. The First Nuclear Era is the story of one notable scientist's life and times and a look back at one of humankind's most ambitious endeavors: the attempt to harness and safely distribute nuclear power. Weinberg has witnessed and played a major part in many of the defining scientific moments of the nuclear era to date. Nuclear power reactors are no longer being built in the U. S. The first nuclear era is coming to a close. Alvin Weinberg's fascinating account of his seminal role in that era gives the reader an insider's look at how nuclear energy developed, how it faltered, and how and why it may yet rise again. The First Nuclear Era is a well written, informative, insightful and engaging autobiography with observations on critically important events and scientific developments that will have impact and influence well into the next century. -- Midwest Book Review

From the Back Cover

The First Nuclear Era is Alvin Weinberg's autobiography, the memoirs of a most influential American nuclear engineer/physicist. These reminiscences date from the dawning of the nuclear age in the early 1940s to the present. It is the story of one notable scientist's life and times and a look back at one of humankind's most ambitious endeavors: the attempt to harness and safely distribute nuclear power. Weinberg has witnessed and played a major part in many of the defining scientific moments of his era. Here he describes his academic career at the University of Chicago, under the tutelage of Nicolas Rashevsky and Carl Eckart. He recalls his wartime days at the Manhattan Project's Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory where he helped Nobelist Eugene Wigner design the Hanford plutonium producing reactors. He then focuses on what would become the abiding legacy of his professional life: his development of and involvement with nuclear reactors. In discussing both great commercial successes (such as the Light-Water Reactor) and unsuccessful experiments, Weinberg offers an objective critique of the technical and political shortcomings that have haunted the nuclear age. He also demonstrates how the lessons learned from unsuccessful reactors paved the way for later triumphs.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ American Institute of Physics; 1994th edition (May 8, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 302 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1563963582
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1563963582
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,234,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #478 in Nuclear Physics (Books)
- #953 in Physics (Books)
- #2,468 in Scientist Biographies

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4.7 33 ratings

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Customers find the book provides an enlightening and emotional journey of a nuclear pioneer. They appreciate the historical accuracy and personal history of the author's career. The book is described as well-documented, technical, and philosophical. While some customers feel it's a little pricey, they consider it a great book worth the money.

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6 customers mention "Enlightened content"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's content fascinating and emotional. They say it provides great insight into the motivation of a group of physicists. The details are interesting, and Weinberg's life is well-documented. However, some readers feel the book is dry and technical.

"...Weinberg's incredible life is well documented in this book, and his optimism that nuclear technology will rise again is inspiring on a very personal..." Read more

"Have wanted this book for some time. Very technical...." Read more

"...It provides great insight into the motivation of a group of physicists who discovered a seductive new technology and thought it could solve all of..." Read more

"...through the same time periods which made it a bit odd but still very interesting...." Read more

6 customers mention "Historical accuracy"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and engaging. It provides a personal account of the history of nuclear power and the Manhattan Project from the perspective of a pioneer. The author's philosophical views are interwoven throughout the narrative, making it an emotional journey for readers. While the book is old, it remains relevant for today's world.

"...He remains philosophical throughout the narrative, interjecting his personal views on what went right and what went wrong, who was hard to work with..." Read more

"...His account of this latter period of his career is also of great historical interest...." Read more

"The autobiography by Alvin Weinberg is old, but no less relevant for our time...." Read more

"This books explains the history of Nuclear Power and the Manhattan Project from the perspective of Alvin Weinberg...." Read more

4 customers mention "Value for money"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book good value for money. They say it's a little expensive, but well worth it.

"...necessarily targeted towards engineers like myself, but would be very worthwhile to anyone interested in nuclear enterprise, or energy in general...." Read more

"...interested in nuclear power, and its ill-timed birth, this book is an essential read." Read more

"...Books a little pricey, but well worth it." Read more

"Great book, but I am biased. I am a big believer in the liquid fueled molten salt reactor idea...." Read more

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Nick T
A fascinating, enlightening, and emotional journey of a nuclear pioneer
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2010
Verified Purchase
As a young nuclear engineer, I was enchanted by Alvin Weinberg's autobiography, The First Nuclear Era. He took me through a very personal history of concepts I have studied, and struck many chords by recounting such things as the day the term "breeder reactor" was thought up. Weinberg discusses pioneering neutron transport, working with the Manhattan Project, the origins of the national labs, how he influenced today's dominance of light-water reactors, and a history of the various goings on that brought nuclear power to where it is today.

He remains philosophical throughout the narrative, interjecting his personal views on what went right and what went wrong, who was hard to work with and who did it right. As he journeys through his days as a researcher, a national lab director, a think tanker, and a committee member of the national academies, he discusses encounters with the leaders of the anti-nuclear movement (Nader, Lovins) and provides insight into how he dealt with the issues society raised about nuclear power, going so far as to call it a Faustian bargain (a deal with the devil).

Weinberg makes clear the excitement and optimism he and his peers originally had about nuclear power -- they thought they had provided humanity with limitless, cheap, and emission-free energy! Well aware of the shortfalls (proliferation and waste in particular), he offers succinct discussions of each issue and his personal (and convincing!) perspectives.

The discussions of the atomic bomb, national defense, and the end of war as we know it are very stimulating. After so many years in the APS, AAAS, NAS, NAE, RNAS, etc., he offers exciting perspectives into these topics that are not so commonly discussed since the Cold War ended.

Weinberg's incredible life is well documented in this book, and his optimism that nuclear technology will rise again is inspiring on a very personal level for me (a reactor designer). It's like he's a guiding light, speaking to me about my passions from the grave. An eloquent writer, his book is not necessarily targeted towards engineers like myself, but would be very worthwhile to anyone interested in nuclear enterprise, or energy in general. I extremely highly recommend this to my peers and highly recommend it to everyone else.

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Karl V
Vivid eye-witness account of the genesis of nuclear power
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2011
Verified Purchase
There is increasing interest--post Fukushima--in the early decisions made to adopt various reactor designs in various countries, particularly the U.S. The whole panorama of the physics, economics and politics around these decisions, starting with the Manhattan project thru the next few decades is recorded here in a very accessible way by one of the greats of the field--Alvin Weiner. Alvin was Eugene Wigner's right hand man in designing reactors for the production of plutonium during the second world war Manhattan project. He was crucial in admiral Rickover's seclection of the light water reactor (LWR) for use in submarines, but preferred other fuel cycles for civilian power plant applications for their greater inherent safety, fewer long-lived waste products and lower proliferation risk. It's truly amazing how Weinberg and his merry band of scientists and engineers could design, fabricate, test, generate power with novel reactor types in a matter of months at Oak Ridge in the 50's. This occurred with Alvin's favorite reactor--the molten salt thorium reactor. This was known as Alvin's "3P" or three-pipe reactor, the only one of its type ever developed. It was nicknamed "3P" because of its simplicity. The reactor basically consisted of "three pipes". There were no complex reactor fuel assemblies, as the fission occurred in the molten salt which circulated through a heat exchanger to generate steam. For many reasons, Weinberg felt the Molten Salt "Breeder" would inevitably inaugurate the "Second Nuclear Era." He forecasted the end of the First Nuclear Era while he was still at Oak Ridge (for reasons of safety, stability and proliferation risk) and for this reason was fired by Nixon in 1974. He was soon hired by President Ford to be head of ERDA. His account of this latter period of his career is also of great historical interest. His writing style is very lucid and crisp, and the pages turn quickly. There is only one equation in the whole book.

FYI, I bought this book used via Amazon, and found this wonderful hand-written message on the first page: "To Mr. Olana Strunk, February 6, 2001, who rescued Ms. Weinberg and me on the Solway Road when our car conked out at 10 pm. Best of luck in your program to become an environmental engineer. With best wishes, Alvin Weinberg." This quote reminds me that Alvin stated in his book (copywright 1994) that he felt, way back in the '70's, that wide adoption of nuclear power was inevitable due to the global warming problem associated with fossil fuel combustion. A true prophet for our times!

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Morten Skaersoe
A precious chronicle of circumstances that lead to nuclear fear and our climate dystopia
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2024
Verified Purchase
The autobiography by Alvin Weinberg is old, but no less relevant for our time. Deeply subjective, but where the "subject" were at the very heart of the atomic age, the book details decisions that has lead to state of nuclear energy we see today.
I have been asking myself for decades, how come we are dealing with Climate Change with the most impotent tools at our disposal, instead of fighting it with nuclear power. Weinberg's book gives me new answers.
For anyone interested in nuclear power, and its ill-timed birth, this book is an essential read.

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Nicht Eindimensional
Terrible print & poor binding!
Reviewed in Germany on December 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
The print is poor, the script has a rough rasterization (poor scan) and the binding is just a crappy loose glue binding of single unfolded paper sheets.

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jasper tomlinson
Alvin Weinberg's autobiography
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2013
Verified Purchase
Weinberg was a leading scientist, engineer, designer and manager in the nuclear era introduced by the atomic bomb in 1945. As a government servant he subsequently had a central role in creating the unsatisfactory existing nuclear power industry based on solid-fueled water-cooled reactors. He always pushed for the superior alternative molten salt reactor technology. Every part of his well-told story is of great interest now the revival of this better technology is becoming a reality.

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物好きな読者
軽水炉の発明者でもあるワインバーグの自伝は原子力の歴史そのもの
Reviewed in Japan on August 23, 2016
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「The First Nuclear Era―The Life and Times of a Technological Fixer」は、米国オークリッジ国立研究所（ORNL）の所長を永年勤めたAlvin M. Weinberg博士の自伝である。
ワインバーグは1915年にシカゴで生まれ、マンハッタン計画に参加した後、1948年にORNL研究担当理事に、1955年にはORNL所長に就任し、1973年に退職した。彼の歴史は、原爆と原発の開発の歴史そのものである。

１）彼は、現在、世界の原発の大半を占める軽水炉の発明者である。このことは、日本では殆ど知られていない。米国でも彼が自伝を出すまで、知る人は少なかった。

２）軽水炉の発明者でありながら、軽水炉の問題点として、下記2点を指摘していた。
①生成されるプルトニウムが原爆に使用される危険性があり、原発を「悪魔との取引」と定義した。
②当初から軽水炉の危険性を指摘し、1958年出版の教科書「Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors」で「軽水炉で冷却が出来ないと、燃料が破損し、プラント全体が放射能汚染され、修復は極めて困難になる」と正に福島原発事故を予言していた。

３）これらを解決する技術として、ORNLにおける熔融塩炉開発を所長として主導した。

４）軽水炉に対する批判を続けたため、1973年に解任された。

近年、熔融塩炉は世界中で見直され、約20カ国で研究開発が進められており、中国では2020年に最初の熔融塩炉を建設する国家プロジェクトが進行している。
彼の科学者としての最大の貢献は「世の中には科学に問うことができるが、科学では答えることが出来ない問題がある」として、原発事故確率や微量放射能影響などを例示し「トランス・サイエンス」という概念を発明したことである。日本ではこの言葉は余り知られていないが、雑誌「世界」2014年6 月号に、地震学者・石橋克彦氏が「地震の規模や確率の予測は、現代科学では答えることが出来ない問題、つまりトランス・サイエンス問題である」と書いている。

プロローグ。
1.Robert Hutchin学長のシカゴ大学、Nicolas Rashevsky教授とCarl Eckart教授
2.冶金学研究所と、Eugene Wigner博士のハンフォード原爆用Pu生産施設
3.クリントン研究所：人類が最初に大量の放射能を生み出した場所
4.研究用原子炉：ORNLの科学中心
5.航空機推進用原子炉
6.液体燃料による増殖発電炉
7.経済性に優れた原子炉はここにあるか？
8.海水脱塩による淡水生産と、他の科学的解決
9.国際的な高揚
10.原子力の現実：悪魔との取引
11.ポトマック川のSmolny研究所
12.エネルギー問題を考える
13.科学思想（トランスサイエンスほか）
14.原爆（ヒロシマの神聖化）
15.我々はもっとうまくやれたか？

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