Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima : Curse of the Nuclear Genie / Thomas Filburn, Stephan Bullard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Filburn, Thomas.

Contributor:

Bullard, Stephan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant (Pa.).

Nuclear reactors.

Nuclear reactor accidents.

Nuclear power plants--Accidents.

Nuclear power plants.

Nuclear energy.

Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986.

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Japan, 2011.

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan, 2011.

Physical Description:

viii, 120 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer, 2016.

Summary:

"This book examines the three most well-known and socially important nuclear accidents. Each of these accidents had significant, yet dramatically different, human and environmental impacts. Unique factors helped shape the overall pattern and scale of each disaster, but a major contributing factor was the different designs used for each reactor. Fukushima was a boiling water reactor (BWR), Chernobyl was a graphite moderated boiling water reactor, and TMI was a pressurized water reactor (PWR). This book traces the history of nuclear power and the development of each reactor type. We examine how GE's work with a sodium cooled design did not fare well with the US Navy, and led GE to promulgate the BWR design. We explore the Russian atomic bomb program, its use of graphite moderated reactors, and their design modifications to create power production units. We trace the developments in the US that led the US Navy to select the PWR design, and caused the PWR to be used for nearly 2/3 of all US commercial reactors. In sum, the book uses the three major nuclear accidents as a lens to trace the technological history of nuclear energy production and to link these developments with long-term societal and environmental consequences. The book is intended for readers with an interest in nuclear power and nuclear disasters. The detailed and compelling account will appeal to both the expert and the interested lay-person."-- Amazon.com

Contents:

1. How do nuclear reactors work?

2. Why pressurized water?

3. Three Mile Island

4. Russian reactor design history

5. Chernobyl accident

6. Why boiling water?

7. Fukushima Daiichi development and operation prior to Great East Japan Earthquake

8. The Great East Japan Earthquake and its immediate effects on Fukushima

9. Fukushima Daiichi today

10. Nuclear fuel, cladding, and the "discovery" of zirconium

11. Summary.

ISBN:

3319340530

9783319340531

OCLC:

946461266