Patterson, Walter

• Nuclear Power

  • I picked up this 1983 book because I was interested in the actual facts behind the incredibly contentious politics of nuclear power and this was a cheap ($1) way to get some background. The value of this book depends upon what you are looking for. It was a bit too technical for my interests. Although I really enjoyed the first chapter on the basics of nuclear energy and so forth, I really got bogged down in the descriptions of umpteen different kinds of reactors.

    This book is long on technical analysis and short on political analysis, so it isn't *interesting* in and of itself, but it sets up the framework for understanding and analyzing the position of the nuclear industry and the anti-nuke crowd. Several chilling accounts of nuclear accidents make for some gruesomely fun reading. Probably the most surprising fact to me is that of all the (objective) committees that have studied the nuclear problem, nuclear waste is, in fact, about the 4th concern down on the list (it has always been my biggest concern). What's ahead of it? 1) The fact that plutonium is a by-product and proliferates everywhere, usable in weapons. 2) The economics of nuclear power has grown less viable over time (rather than more, which seems very surprising to me) and basically no money has gone into researching alternatives. 3) Nuclear accidents are just too damned unpredictable and dangerous (remember this book was written before Chernobyl).

    Anyway, this is a good intro, if a tad technical, and it contains at the end a very detailed bibliography with recommendations for other books in the field. It seems very balanced to me, with a bit of tut-tutting reserved for dishonesty on both sides.

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