Deregulating electricity prices and privatizing publicly owned power system assets has been an economic disaster in North America and elsewhere. Instead of the promised abundance of lower-priced power, states and provinces that have embraced deregulation and privatization are now experiencing astonishing price spikes and unexpected shortages. Taking us from the very beginnings of the electricity industry in the 1880s right up to the present day, Howard Hampton vividly recounts the dramatic political struggles between public and private power in both Canada and the United States, a moving story that links Ontario's Sir Adam Beck, founder of North America's largest public power system, with Franklin D. Roosevelt, who established the still-public New York Power Authority and Tennessee Valley Authority, and Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich, who sacrificed his political career rather than sell his city's municipally owned electric utility.

This book is intended to provide an introduction to the basic principles of nuclear fission reactors for advanced undergraduate or graduate students of physics and engineering. The presentation is also suitable for physicists or engineers who are entering the nuclear power field without previous experience with nuclear reactors. No background knowledge is required beyond that typically acquired in the first two years of an undergraduate program in physics or engineering. Throughout, the emphasis is on explaining why particular reactor systems have evolved in the way they have, without going into great detail about reactor physics or methods of design analysis, which are already covered in a number of excellent specialist texts. The first two chapters serve as an introduction to the basic physics of the atom and the nucleus and to nuclear fission and the nuclear chain reaction. Chapter 3 deals with the fundamentals of nuclear reactor theory, covering neutron slowing down and the spatial dependence of the neutron flux in the reactor, based on the solution of the diffusion equations. The chapter includes a major section on reactor kinetics and control, including'tempera ture and void coefficients and xenon poisoning effects in power reactors. Chapter 4 describes various aspects offuel management and fuel cycles, while Chapter 5 considers materials problems for fuel and other constituents of the reactor. The processes of heat generation and removal are covered in Chapter 6.

"Ontario Hydro is a paradox. Omnipresent and omnipotent in the Ontario political and economic Landscape, its nature and identity have been shrouded in ambiguity for ninety years. The Politics of Power provides a fascinating account of Hydro's origins and history up to the 1995 provincial election." "Freeman contends that the common perception of Hydro as the archetypal crown corporation is mistaken, despite its reputation as one of the first and most important examples of large-scale public enterprise in Canada. From the legislation that launched the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (HEPC) in 1906 to its formal re-creation as Ontario Hydro in 1973, the utility was simultaneously considered in different quarters to be both a government enterprise and the trustee of a municipal cooperative." "This ambivalence continues to be a central theme in Hydro's history. As Freeman shows, the ownership confusion was only attenuated rather than terminated with the creation of Ontario Hydro, and this has implications for its restructuring and privatization today. While municipal ownership is largely a myth, it has survived so long not only because municipal leaders gave it articulation; it conveniently supported the political objectives of Hydro to bolster corporate autonomy and the government to silence criticism of direct involvement in the economy." "Through meticulous examination of statutory changes and government appointments, and through candid interviews with key government, municipal, and Hydro officials, Freeman gives us a much clearer understanding of this important corporation and its government."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved