Nuclear implosions : the rise and fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System / Daniel Pope.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pope, Daniel, 1946- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Washington Public Power Supply System.

Nuclear power plants--Washington (State)--Design and construction--Finance.

Nuclear power plants.

Electric utilities--Washington (State)--Finance.

Electric utilities.

Energy development--United States.

Energy development.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 282 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book follows a small public agency in Washington State that undertook one of the most ambitious construction projects in the nation in the 1970s: the building of five large nuclear power plants. By 1983, delays and cost overruns, along with slowed growth of electricity demand, led to cancellation of two plants and a construction halt on two others. Moreover, the agency defaulted on $2.25 billion of municipal bonds, leading to a monumental court case that took nearly a decade to resolve fully. Daniel Pope sets this in the context of the postwar boom's ending, the energy shocks of the 1970s, a new restraint in forecasting demand, and shifting patterns of municipal finance. Nuclear Implosions also traces the entangling alliance between civilian nuclear energy and nuclear weapons and recounts a telling example of how the law has become a primary method of resolving disputes in a litigious society.

Contents:

Background to fiasco

WPPSS steps forward

The second wave

projects 4 and 5

The construction morass

Collapse

Endgame

Running toward an uncertain future.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

ISBN:

1-107-17262-4

0-511-39205-2

1-281-37053-3

9786611370534

0-511-39083-1

0-511-39414-4

0-511-39479-9

0-511-39336-9

0-511-51165-5