Sustainable Nuclear Power provides non-nuclear engineers, scientists and energy planners with the necessary information to understand and utilize the major advances in the field. The book demonstrates that nuclear fission technology has the abundance and attainability to provide centuries of safe power with minimal greenhouse gas generation. It also addresses the safety and disposal issues that have plagued the development of the nuclear power industry and scared planners and policy makers as well as the general public for more than two decades. In addition, the authors provide a Companion website, http://books.elsevier.com/companions, which gives access to government reports and case studies *No need for a background in nuclear science! This book guides engineers, scientists and energy professionals through a concise and easy-to-understand overview of key safety and sustainability issues affecting their work. *Details the very latest information about today's safest and most energy-efficient reactor designs and reprocessing procedures. *Brings to light the fears and hesitation of using nuclear energy and explains that technologies and procedures for safe production and processing are available today.

Unlike existing books of nuclear reactor physics, nuclear engineering and nuclear chemical engineering this book covers a complete description and evaluation of nuclear fission power generation. It covers the whole nuclear fuel cycle, from the extraction of natural uranium from ore mines, uranium conversion and enrichment up to the fabrication of fuel elements for the cores of various types of fission reactors. This is followed by the description of the different fuel cycle options and the final storage in nuclear waste repositories. In addition the release of radioactivity under normal and possible accidental conditions is given for all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle and especially for the different fission reactor types.

Transforming the energy system is at the core of the dedicated sustainable development goal on energy within the new United Nations development agenda. This publication explores the possible contribution of nuclear energy to addressing the issues of sustainable development through a large selection of indicators. It reviews the characteristics of nuclear power in comparison with alternative sources of electricity supply, according to economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. The findings summarized in this publication will help the reader to consider, or reconsider, the contribution that can be made by the development and operation of nuclear power plants in contributing to more sustainable energy systems.

Evaluates trade-offs and uncertainties inherent in achieving sustainable energy, analyzes the major energy technologies, and provides a framework for assessing policy options.

This open access book discusses the eroding economics of nuclear power for electricity generation as well as technical, legal, and political acceptance issues. The use of nuclear power for electricity generation is still a heavily disputed issue. Aside from technical risks, safety issues, and the unsolved problem of nuclear waste disposal, the economic performance is currently a major barrier. In recent years, the costs have skyrocketed especially in the European countries and North America. At the same time, the costs of alternatives such as photovoltaics and wind power have significantly decreased.

Everything you thought you knew about nuclear power is wrong. This is just as well, because nuclear energy is essential to avoid catastrophic global warming. While renewables will surely play an important part in our future energy strategy, expecting them to deliver all the world's power is dangerously delusional. In 2014, statistics showed that wind and solar power contributed only 1 per cent of global primary energy. Similarly, while energy saving has a key role to play in the developed world, there is no possibility of humanity as a whole using less energy while the developing world is extracting itself from poverty. And the fact is that the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and '80s has made the world more dependent on fossil fuels. In Nuclear 2.0, environmental campaigner Mark Lynas debunks the myths that have cast nuclear energy in a bad light. Often overlooked because of concerns surrounding nuclear waste and radiation poisoning after the Chernobyl disaster, atomic energy is one of the most impressive sources of low-carbon power. In this enlightening read, Mark looks at the science and re-evaluates the situation to unravel why our future is threatened not just by the big fossil-fuel companies, but also the professional anti-nuclear Green groups. This book is a call for all those who want to see a low-carbon future to join forces and advocate a huge, Apollo-Program-scale investment in wind, solar and nuclear power.

Rising fossil fuel prices and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions are fostering a nuclear power renaissance and a revitalized uranium mining industry across the American West. In The Price of Nuclear Power, environmental sociologist Stephanie Malin offers an on-the-ground portrait of several uranium communities caught between the harmful legacy of previous mining booms and the potential promise of new economic development. Using this context, she examines how shifting notions of environmental justice inspire divergent views about nuclear power’s sustainability and equally divisive forms of social activism. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in rural isolated towns such as Monticello, Utah, and Nucla and Naturita, Colorado, as well as in upscale communities like Telluride, Colorado, and incorporating interviews with community leaders, environmental activists, radiation regulators, and mining executives, Malin uncovers a fundamental paradox of the nuclear renaissance: the communities most hurt by uranium’s legacy—such as high rates of cancers, respiratory ailments, and reproductive disorders—were actually quick to support industry renewal. She shows that many impoverished communities support mining not only because of the employment opportunities, but also out of a personal identification with uranium, a sense of patriotism, and new notions of environmentalism. But other communities, such as Telluride, have become sites of resistance, skeptical of industry and government promises of safe mining, fearing that regulatory enforcement won’t be strong enough. Indeed, Malin shows that the nuclear renaissance has exacerbated social divisions across the Colorado Plateau, threatening social cohesion. Malin further illustrates ways in which renewed uranium production is not a socially sustainable form of energy development for rural communities, as it is utterly dependent on unstable global markets. The Price of Nuclear Power is an insightful portrait of the local impact of the nuclear renaissance and the social and environmental tensions inherent in the rebirth of uranium mining.

This book provides a concise but rigorous appraisal about the future of nuclear power and the presumed nuclear renaissance. It does so by assessing the technical, economic, environmental, political, and social risks related to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mills and mines to nuclear reactors and spent fuel storage facilities. In each case, the book argues that the costs of nuclear power significantly outweigh its benefits. It concludes by calling for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency as a better path towards an affordable, secure, and socially acceptable future.The prospect of a global nuclear renaissance could change the way that energy is produced and used the world over. Sovacool takes a hard look at who would benefit — mostly energy companies and manufacturers — and who would suffer — mostly taxpayers, those living near nuclear facilities, and electricity customers. This book is a must-read for anyone even remotely concerned about a sustainable energy future, and also for those with a specific interest in modern nuclear power plants.

Energy Democracies for Sustainable Futures explores how our dominant carbon and nuclear energy assemblages shape conceptions of participation, risk, and in/securities, and how they might be reengineered to deliver justice and democratic participation in transitioning energy systems. Chapters assess the economies, geographies and politics of current and future energy landscapes, exposing how dominant assemblages (composed of technologies, strategies, knowledge and authorities) change our understanding of security and risk, and how they these shared understandings are often enacted uncritically in policy. Contributors address integral relationships across the production and government of material and human energies and the opportunities for sustainable and democratic governance. In addition, the book explores how interest groups advance idealized energy futures and energy imaginaries. The work delves into the role that states, market organizations and civil society play in envisioned energy change. It assesses how risks and security are formulated in relation to economics, politics, ecology, and human health. It concludes by integrating the relationships between alternative energies and governance strategies, including issues of centralization and decentralization, suggesting approaches to engineer democracy into decision-making about energy assemblages. - Explores descriptive and normative relationships between energy and democracy - Reviews how changing energy demand and governance threaten democracies and democratic institutions - Identifies what participative energy transformations look like when paired with energy security - Reviews what happens to social, economic and political infrastructures in the process of achieving sustainable and democratic transitions

Member States intending to introduce a nuclear power programme will need to pass through several phases during the implementation. Experience shows that careful planning of the objectives, roles, responsibilities, interfaces and tasks to be carried out in different phases of a nuclear project is important for success. This publication presents a harmonized approach that may be used to structure the owner/operator management system and establish and manage nuclear projects and their development activities irrespective of the adopted approach. It has been developed from shared management practices and consolidated experiences provided by nuclear project management specialists through a series of workshops and working groups organized by the IAEA. The resultant publication presents a useful framework for the management of nuclear projects from initiation to closeout and captures international best practices.