Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 2 begins by outlining the origins and history of nuclear technology. It goes on to show how claims that nuclear fission is a low-carbon ...
More
Chapter 2 begins by outlining the origins and history of nuclear technology. It goes on to show how claims that nuclear fission is a low-carbon technology are false. Such claims rely on a variety of flaws, the first of which is the fact that most nuclear-emissions studies count greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions only at point of electricity use, rather than from the entire, 14-stage nuclear-fuel cycle. By thus “trimming the data” on nuclear-related GHG emissions, proponents falsely portray fission as a “green,” low-carbon technology. In reality, once one counts GHG emissions from all nuclear-fuel-cycle stages, fission has roughly the same GHG emissions as natural gas. Another flaw with the claim that nuclear GHG emissions are low is that it fails to take into account the much higher emissions that arise from using low-grade uranium ore to create reactor fuel. Third, those who claim that nuclear GHG emissions are low are inconsistent in that they fail to apply their own logic (that we should implement energy technologies with low GHG emissions) to electricity sources (such as wind and solar photovoltaic) that are much better GHG-emissions avoiders than is nuclear power. A fourth problem is the fact that reactors generate only about 25 percent more energy, in their lifetime, than is required, as input, to the 14 stages of their fuel cycle. A fifth flaw of those who propose using nuclear energy to address CC is their failure to take account of the fact that reactors massively increase risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Using atomic energy to help combat CC worsens another, and equally catastrophic, energy problem: nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. A sixth flaw of using fission to address CC is failure to take account of the practical difficulties of tripling the number of global reactors. For all these reasons, the chapter shows that commercial atomic energy cannot address CC.Less
Chapter 2 begins by outlining the origins and history of nuclear technology. It goes on to show how claims that nuclear fission is a low-carbon technology are false. Such claims rely on a variety of flaws, the first of which is the fact that most nuclear-emissions studies count greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions only at point of electricity use, rather than from the entire, 14-stage nuclear-fuel cycle. By thus “trimming the data” on nuclear-related GHG emissions, proponents falsely portray fission as a “green,” low-carbon technology. In reality, once one counts GHG emissions from all nuclear-fuel-cycle stages, fission has roughly the same GHG emissions as natural gas. Another flaw with the claim that nuclear GHG emissions are low is that it fails to take into account the much higher emissions that arise from using low-grade uranium ore to create reactor fuel. Third, those who claim that nuclear GHG emissions are low are inconsistent in that they fail to apply their own logic (that we should implement energy technologies with low GHG emissions) to electricity sources (such as wind and solar photovoltaic) that are much better GHG-emissions avoiders than is nuclear power. A fourth problem is the fact that reactors generate only about 25 percent more energy, in their lifetime, than is required, as input, to the 14 stages of their fuel cycle. A fifth flaw of those who propose using nuclear energy to address CC is their failure to take account of the fact that reactors massively increase risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Using atomic energy to help combat CC worsens another, and equally catastrophic, energy problem: nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. A sixth flaw of using fission to address CC is failure to take account of the practical difficulties of tripling the number of global reactors. For all these reasons, the chapter shows that commercial atomic energy cannot address CC.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This book uses market data, scientific studies, and ethical analyses to show why we should pursue green energy and conservation, and not nuclear fission, to address ...
More
This book uses market data, scientific studies, and ethical analyses to show why we should pursue green energy and conservation, and not nuclear fission, to address global climate change. It also uncovers why the many problems with atomic power, and the many benefits of green energy and conservation, have been concealed from the public. Chapter 1 reveals how flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence have contributed to poor energy policies; to the failure to address climate change; and to subsidizing market failures, like nuclear energy. The chapter explains the reality of human-caused global climate change, and it shows that virtually all expert-scientific analyses accept this reality. It also refutes the arguments of climate-change skeptics, who are often influenced by fossil-fuel special interests. Chapter 2 shows that nuclear energy is routinely misrepresented as “green” and “carbon free” because its proponents rely on counterfactual assumptions in calculating greenhouse-gas emissions. They ignore the greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from the 14-stage nuclear-fuel cycle, though when accounted for, these emissions are about the same as those from natural gas. Chapter 3 dispels the notion that nuclear energy is inexpensive and economical, especially when compared to wind and solar photovoltaics (solar PV). It shows how both taxpayer subsidies and government-mandated liability limits impose unfair nuclear costs on the public. It also reveals how erroneous assumptions about nuclear-construction-interest rates, load factors, and construction times lead to inaccurate assessments of nuclear costs—which are many times higher than the nuclear industry and government admit. Chapter 4 highlights the industry cover-ups, scientific misrepresentations, and violations of conflict-of-interest guidelines that have contributed to flawed atomic-energy-accident data. These flawed data grossly underestimate harmful nuclear consequences and mislead the public about the severity of radiation-related accidents. Chapter 5 shows how even normally operating fission power causes serious, pollution-induced health effects, such as cancer, that are disproportionately imposed on children, radiation workers, and future generations. Chapter 6 uses classic scientific studies from Harvard, Princeton, and the US Department of Energy to show how improved conservation and energy efficiency—along with increased use of wind and solar-PV power—can supply all energy needs while costing less than either fossil fuels or nuclear fission. Chapter 7 responds to many objections, such as the apparent success of the French nuclear-energy program, the intermittency of some renewable-energy technologies, and the alleged costs of renewable energy. It shows how these objections are invalid and that nuclear-industry PR has misled the public about the truth that efficiencies and renewable energy emit less greenhouse gases and are cheaper, safer, and more ethical than atomic power. Chapter 8 concludes by recommending some ways to promote cheaper, safer, more ethical, and less-carbon-intensive renewables, conservation, and energy efficiencies.Less
This book uses market data, scientific studies, and ethical analyses to show why we should pursue green energy and conservation, and not nuclear fission, to address global climate change. It also uncovers why the many problems with atomic power, and the many benefits of green energy and conservation, have been concealed from the public. Chapter 1 reveals how flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence have contributed to poor energy policies; to the failure to address climate change; and to subsidizing market failures, like nuclear energy. The chapter explains the reality of human-caused global climate change, and it shows that virtually all expert-scientific analyses accept this reality. It also refutes the arguments of climate-change skeptics, who are often influenced by fossil-fuel special interests. Chapter 2 shows that nuclear energy is routinely misrepresented as “green” and “carbon free” because its proponents rely on counterfactual assumptions in calculating greenhouse-gas emissions. They ignore the greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from the 14-stage nuclear-fuel cycle, though when accounted for, these emissions are about the same as those from natural gas. Chapter 3 dispels the notion that nuclear energy is inexpensive and economical, especially when compared to wind and solar photovoltaics (solar PV). It shows how both taxpayer subsidies and government-mandated liability limits impose unfair nuclear costs on the public. It also reveals how erroneous assumptions about nuclear-construction-interest rates, load factors, and construction times lead to inaccurate assessments of nuclear costs—which are many times higher than the nuclear industry and government admit. Chapter 4 highlights the industry cover-ups, scientific misrepresentations, and violations of conflict-of-interest guidelines that have contributed to flawed atomic-energy-accident data. These flawed data grossly underestimate harmful nuclear consequences and mislead the public about the severity of radiation-related accidents. Chapter 5 shows how even normally operating fission power causes serious, pollution-induced health effects, such as cancer, that are disproportionately imposed on children, radiation workers, and future generations. Chapter 6 uses classic scientific studies from Harvard, Princeton, and the US Department of Energy to show how improved conservation and energy efficiency—along with increased use of wind and solar-PV power—can supply all energy needs while costing less than either fossil fuels or nuclear fission. Chapter 7 responds to many objections, such as the apparent success of the French nuclear-energy program, the intermittency of some renewable-energy technologies, and the alleged costs of renewable energy. It shows how these objections are invalid and that nuclear-industry PR has misled the public about the truth that efficiencies and renewable energy emit less greenhouse gases and are cheaper, safer, and more ethical than atomic power. Chapter 8 concludes by recommending some ways to promote cheaper, safer, more ethical, and less-carbon-intensive renewables, conservation, and energy efficiencies.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 6 discusses many CC solutions that avoid nuclear fission. Because wind and solar-PV power are fully developed, are relatively inexpensive, and ...
More
Chapter 6 discusses many CC solutions that avoid nuclear fission. Because wind and solar-PV power are fully developed, are relatively inexpensive, and can provide electricity (which offers the greatest flexibility in energy use, including supplying electricity for plug-in hybrids), this chapter considers mostly wind and solar PV. This chapter lays out 10 arguments for using renewable energy and efficiency programs, rather than nuclear fission, to address CC. First, it shows that energy efficiency and conservation are the cheapest ways to address CC. It also shows that both wind and solar photovoltaic are cheaper than atomic energy. Not only do market proponents confirm that renewable energy is cheaper than nuclear fission, but renewable energy is also becoming progressively cheaper, while fission is becoming progressively more expensive. The chapter illustrates that renewable-energy sources could supply all global energy, while fission could not, and that renewable-energy sources can be implemented more quickly than atomic power. Renewable-energy sources, unlike nuclear fission, are sustainable, low-carbon technologies that would also make the nation and the planet more militarily secure than could nuclear power. Finally, the chapter shows how the transition to 100-percent-renewable energy can be made easily and smoothly.Less
Chapter 6 discusses many CC solutions that avoid nuclear fission. Because wind and solar-PV power are fully developed, are relatively inexpensive, and can provide electricity (which offers the greatest flexibility in energy use, including supplying electricity for plug-in hybrids), this chapter considers mostly wind and solar PV. This chapter lays out 10 arguments for using renewable energy and efficiency programs, rather than nuclear fission, to address CC. First, it shows that energy efficiency and conservation are the cheapest ways to address CC. It also shows that both wind and solar photovoltaic are cheaper than atomic energy. Not only do market proponents confirm that renewable energy is cheaper than nuclear fission, but renewable energy is also becoming progressively cheaper, while fission is becoming progressively more expensive. The chapter illustrates that renewable-energy sources could supply all global energy, while fission could not, and that renewable-energy sources can be implemented more quickly than atomic power. Renewable-energy sources, unlike nuclear fission, are sustainable, low-carbon technologies that would also make the nation and the planet more militarily secure than could nuclear power. Finally, the chapter shows how the transition to 100-percent-renewable energy can be made easily and smoothly.
Vernon W. Ruttan
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195188042
- eISBN:
- 9780199783410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195188047.003.0004
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Nuclear power is an example of a technology that, in the absence of military and defense-related research, development, and procurement, would not have been developed at all. The demonstration of ...
More
Nuclear power is an example of a technology that, in the absence of military and defense-related research, development, and procurement, would not have been developed at all. The demonstration of controlled nuclear fission at the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field on December 2, 1942 initiated a chain of events that led to the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear power. The design of the first nuclear power reactor, located at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, was adapted from nuclear reactors developed to power nuclear submarines. Premature commitment to light water reactor technology appears, in retrospect, to have been a source of failure of the nuclear power industry to realize the promise it appeared to have in the 1950s. It is possible that during the first half of the 21st century, nuclear power will be able to make a significant contribution to meeting the growth in demand for electric power; by substituting for carbon-based fuels, it may also contribute to slowing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.Less
Nuclear power is an example of a technology that, in the absence of military and defense-related research, development, and procurement, would not have been developed at all. The demonstration of controlled nuclear fission at the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field on December 2, 1942 initiated a chain of events that led to the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear power. The design of the first nuclear power reactor, located at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, was adapted from nuclear reactors developed to power nuclear submarines. Premature commitment to light water reactor technology appears, in retrospect, to have been a source of failure of the nuclear power industry to realize the promise it appeared to have in the 1950s. It is possible that during the first half of the 21st century, nuclear power will be able to make a significant contribution to meeting the growth in demand for electric power; by substituting for carbon-based fuels, it may also contribute to slowing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to ...
More
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to CC. Many scientists and most market proponents agree that renewable energy and energy efficiencies are better options. The chapter also shows that government subsidies for oil and nuclear power are the result of flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence. The chapter has 7 sections, the first of which surveys four major components of the energy crisis. These are oil addiction, non-CC-related deaths from fossil-fuel pollution, nuclear-weapons proliferation, and catastrophic CC. The second section summarizes some of the powerful evidence for global CC. The third section uses historical, ahistorical, Rawlsian, and utilitarian ethical principles to show how developed nations, especially the US, are most responsible for human-caused CC. The fourth section shows why climate-change skeptics, such as “deniers” who doubt CC is real, and “delayers” who say that it should not yet be addressed, have no valid objections. Instead, they all err scientifically and ethically. The fifth section illustrates that all modern scientific methods—and scientific consensus since at least 1995—confirm the reality of global CC. Essentially all expert-scientific analyses published in refereed, scientific-professional journals confirm the reality of global CC. The sixth section of the chapter shows how fossil-fuel special interests have contributed to the continued CC debate largely by paying non-experts to deny or challenge CC. The seventh section of the chapter provides an outline of each chapter in the book, noting that this book makes use of both scientific and ethical analyses to show why nuclear proponents’ arguments err, why CC deniers are wrong, and how scientific-methodological understanding can advance sound energy policy—including conservation, renewable energy, and energy efficiencies.Less
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to CC. Many scientists and most market proponents agree that renewable energy and energy efficiencies are better options. The chapter also shows that government subsidies for oil and nuclear power are the result of flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence. The chapter has 7 sections, the first of which surveys four major components of the energy crisis. These are oil addiction, non-CC-related deaths from fossil-fuel pollution, nuclear-weapons proliferation, and catastrophic CC. The second section summarizes some of the powerful evidence for global CC. The third section uses historical, ahistorical, Rawlsian, and utilitarian ethical principles to show how developed nations, especially the US, are most responsible for human-caused CC. The fourth section shows why climate-change skeptics, such as “deniers” who doubt CC is real, and “delayers” who say that it should not yet be addressed, have no valid objections. Instead, they all err scientifically and ethically. The fifth section illustrates that all modern scientific methods—and scientific consensus since at least 1995—confirm the reality of global CC. Essentially all expert-scientific analyses published in refereed, scientific-professional journals confirm the reality of global CC. The sixth section of the chapter shows how fossil-fuel special interests have contributed to the continued CC debate largely by paying non-experts to deny or challenge CC. The seventh section of the chapter provides an outline of each chapter in the book, noting that this book makes use of both scientific and ethical analyses to show why nuclear proponents’ arguments err, why CC deniers are wrong, and how scientific-methodological understanding can advance sound energy policy—including conservation, renewable energy, and energy efficiencies.
Vaclav Smil
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195168754
- eISBN:
- 9780199783601
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168755.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This book is a systematic interdisciplinary account of two epochal trends: the history of the 20th century’s technical transformation based on the unprecedented surge of innovation that took place in ...
More
This book is a systematic interdisciplinary account of two epochal trends: the history of the 20th century’s technical transformation based on the unprecedented surge of innovation that took place in Europe and North America during the three pre-WWI generation (1867-1914); and the history of new fundamental inventions during the period 1914-2000. Mass consumption of fossil fuels provided the energetic foundation of this progress. New ways of making steel — the leading metal of our civilization — and new materials including plastics and silicon, opened entirely new technical possibilities. Rationalized production, be it in agriculture or manufacturing, benefited from advancing mechanization, automation, and robotization. New epochal inventions included the discovery of nuclear fission, followed by the rapid development of nuclear weapons and commercial generation of nuclear electricity; the discovery of gas turbines (and their use in jet airplanes as well as in stationary applications); and the invention of solid-state electronics based on semiconductors used to make transistors, integrated circuits, and microprocessors, the key components of modern computing. The new economy based on unprecedented levels of energy consumption brought not only mass consumption and higher quality of life, but also some worrisome social problems and environmental changes; its prospects remain uncertain.Less
This book is a systematic interdisciplinary account of two epochal trends: the history of the 20th century’s technical transformation based on the unprecedented surge of innovation that took place in Europe and North America during the three pre-WWI generation (1867-1914); and the history of new fundamental inventions during the period 1914-2000. Mass consumption of fossil fuels provided the energetic foundation of this progress. New ways of making steel — the leading metal of our civilization — and new materials including plastics and silicon, opened entirely new technical possibilities. Rationalized production, be it in agriculture or manufacturing, benefited from advancing mechanization, automation, and robotization. New epochal inventions included the discovery of nuclear fission, followed by the rapid development of nuclear weapons and commercial generation of nuclear electricity; the discovery of gas turbines (and their use in jet airplanes as well as in stationary applications); and the invention of solid-state electronics based on semiconductors used to make transistors, integrated circuits, and microprocessors, the key components of modern computing. The new economy based on unprecedented levels of energy consumption brought not only mass consumption and higher quality of life, but also some worrisome social problems and environmental changes; its prospects remain uncertain.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 8 concludes with suggestions about how to promote cheaper, safer, more ethical, and less carbon-intensive energies, such as renewables, ...
More
Chapter 8 concludes with suggestions about how to promote cheaper, safer, more ethical, and less carbon-intensive energies, such as renewables, conservation, and energy efficiencies. It shows that people are misled not only about the energy costs of nuclear fission, but also about fission's climate-emissions costs (chapter 2), its financial costs (chapter 3), its safety costs (chapter 4), its equity and justice costs (chapter 5), and its opportunity costs—because nuclear investments take money away from cleaner, cheaper, safer, more equitable, and more abundant renewable-energy sources (chapter 6). The seemingly disparate interests of the market, citizens’ safety concerns, CC, ethical concerns, and common sense actually all dictate the same course of action: using renewable energy, conservation, and efficiency to address CC.Less
Chapter 8 concludes with suggestions about how to promote cheaper, safer, more ethical, and less carbon-intensive energies, such as renewables, conservation, and energy efficiencies. It shows that people are misled not only about the energy costs of nuclear fission, but also about fission's climate-emissions costs (chapter 2), its financial costs (chapter 3), its safety costs (chapter 4), its equity and justice costs (chapter 5), and its opportunity costs—because nuclear investments take money away from cleaner, cheaper, safer, more equitable, and more abundant renewable-energy sources (chapter 6). The seemingly disparate interests of the market, citizens’ safety concerns, CC, ethical concerns, and common sense actually all dictate the same course of action: using renewable energy, conservation, and efficiency to address CC.
Joseph Rotblat
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226284132
- eISBN:
- 9780226284163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226284163.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The story of nuclear fission begins in 1932, the annus mirabilis of physics. The subsequent flurry of research in many laboratories led to the production of radioactive forms of many elements, with ...
More
The story of nuclear fission begins in 1932, the annus mirabilis of physics. The subsequent flurry of research in many laboratories led to the production of radioactive forms of many elements, with many practical applications, particularly in medicine. Neutron research also led to a better understanding of the interactions between protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei. The discovery of nuclear fission, reported in 1939 by Lise Meitner and Robert Frisch, would have attracted little public attention as a purely scientific advance. But by opening the way to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful and military purposes, it had an impact on the course of human affairs out of all proportion to its contribution to fundamental physics. The most intensive experimental studies with neutrons were carried out in Rome, where Enrico Fermi and his team systematically bombarded the nuclei of nearly all the elements with slow neutrons. The results from uranium proved to be very puzzling because of the large number of radioactive species produced, each characterized by its half-life.Less
The story of nuclear fission begins in 1932, the annus mirabilis of physics. The subsequent flurry of research in many laboratories led to the production of radioactive forms of many elements, with many practical applications, particularly in medicine. Neutron research also led to a better understanding of the interactions between protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei. The discovery of nuclear fission, reported in 1939 by Lise Meitner and Robert Frisch, would have attracted little public attention as a purely scientific advance. But by opening the way to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful and military purposes, it had an impact on the course of human affairs out of all proportion to its contribution to fundamental physics. The most intensive experimental studies with neutrons were carried out in Rome, where Enrico Fermi and his team systematically bombarded the nuclei of nearly all the elements with slow neutrons. The results from uranium proved to be very puzzling because of the large number of radioactive species produced, each characterized by its half-life.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017404
- eISBN:
- 9780262301770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017404.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter focuses on addressing the problems faced by current climate policy and attempts to show how equitable it would be to increase commercial nuclear energy in an effort to help address ...
More
This chapter focuses on addressing the problems faced by current climate policy and attempts to show how equitable it would be to increase commercial nuclear energy in an effort to help address climate change. This type of assessment, as is argued here, must not only focus on what is wrong with current climate policy but also on proposing solutions to current problems or ways on how to correct flawed policies. This chapter shows first that because atomic power has nearly the same CO2-equivalent emissions as natural gas and because it is far more expensive than many renewable-energy technologies, it is not one of the more effective ways to address climate change. Next, it is explained that because of ethically flawed radiation-protection standards, using nuclear fission imposes environmental injustices on indigenous communities, workers, children, and members of future generations.Less
This chapter focuses on addressing the problems faced by current climate policy and attempts to show how equitable it would be to increase commercial nuclear energy in an effort to help address climate change. This type of assessment, as is argued here, must not only focus on what is wrong with current climate policy but also on proposing solutions to current problems or ways on how to correct flawed policies. This chapter shows first that because atomic power has nearly the same CO2-equivalent emissions as natural gas and because it is far more expensive than many renewable-energy technologies, it is not one of the more effective ways to address climate change. Next, it is explained that because of ethically flawed radiation-protection standards, using nuclear fission imposes environmental injustices on indigenous communities, workers, children, and members of future generations.
E. C. Pielou
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226668062
- eISBN:
- 9780226668055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226668055.003.0013
- Subject:
- Biology, Natural History and Field Guides
Not all the earth's energy comes from sunlight. A small fraction — one part in four or five thousand — comes from the earth's internal heat. This is the energy that shifts tectonic plates and that ...
More
Not all the earth's energy comes from sunlight. A small fraction — one part in four or five thousand — comes from the earth's internal heat. This is the energy that shifts tectonic plates and that powers earthquakes and volcanoes. It heats rocks to temperatures high enough to change them to metamorphic rocks — limestone to marble, for example, and granite to schist. It drives the circulation of liquid iron in the earth's core, which makes the whole earth a magnet. It heats hot springs and geysers. This chapter discusses the following: atomic nuclei; the binding together of nuclear particles; nuclear fusion; and nuclear fission.Less
Not all the earth's energy comes from sunlight. A small fraction — one part in four or five thousand — comes from the earth's internal heat. This is the energy that shifts tectonic plates and that powers earthquakes and volcanoes. It heats rocks to temperatures high enough to change them to metamorphic rocks — limestone to marble, for example, and granite to schist. It drives the circulation of liquid iron in the earth's core, which makes the whole earth a magnet. It heats hot springs and geysers. This chapter discusses the following: atomic nuclei; the binding together of nuclear particles; nuclear fusion; and nuclear fission.
Don S. Lemons
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262035903
- eISBN:
- 9780262338745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035903.003.0005
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
During this period the diagrams that convey the ideas of physics become more symbolic and less representational. Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus (1910), Niels Bohr’s model of the ...
More
During this period the diagrams that convey the ideas of physics become more symbolic and less representational. Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus (1910), Niels Bohr’s model of the Hydrogen atom (1913), matter waves (1924), and the transition from an early universe with no Higgs field to a universe with a Higgs field (2012) are examples of this point. The photoelectric effect (1905), Brownian motion (1905), X-rays and crystals (1912), general relativity (1915), the expanding universe (1927-1929), and the global greenhouse effect (1988) remain accessible with a simple representational sketch.Less
During this period the diagrams that convey the ideas of physics become more symbolic and less representational. Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus (1910), Niels Bohr’s model of the Hydrogen atom (1913), matter waves (1924), and the transition from an early universe with no Higgs field to a universe with a Higgs field (2012) are examples of this point. The photoelectric effect (1905), Brownian motion (1905), X-rays and crystals (1912), general relativity (1915), the expanding universe (1927-1929), and the global greenhouse effect (1988) remain accessible with a simple representational sketch.
Roger H. Stuewer
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198827870
- eISBN:
- 9780191866586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198827870.003.0015
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics, Nuclear and Plasma Physics
On December 19, 1938, Otto Hahn wrote to Lise Meitner in Stockholm, asking her if she could propose some “fantastic explanation” for his and Fritz Strassmann’s finding of barium when bombarding ...
More
On December 19, 1938, Otto Hahn wrote to Lise Meitner in Stockholm, asking her if she could propose some “fantastic explanation” for his and Fritz Strassmann’s finding of barium when bombarding uranium with neutrons. She and Otto Robert Frisch found such an explanation for what he called “nuclear fission” over the Christmas holidays, based on Gamow’s liquid-drop model of the nucleus. Bohr was astonished by this, but in 1936 he had speculated that the uranium nucleus would just explode. He, his son Erik, and his associate Léon Rosenfeld then took a ship to New York, arriving on January 16, 1939. Rosenfeld reported the discovery of fission that evening to the Princeton physics journal club. On January 26, physicists everywhere learned about this stunning discovery when Bohr and Fermi reported it at a conference in Washington, D.C. Physicists entered the New World of Nuclear Physics, taking Humanity with them.Less
On December 19, 1938, Otto Hahn wrote to Lise Meitner in Stockholm, asking her if she could propose some “fantastic explanation” for his and Fritz Strassmann’s finding of barium when bombarding uranium with neutrons. She and Otto Robert Frisch found such an explanation for what he called “nuclear fission” over the Christmas holidays, based on Gamow’s liquid-drop model of the nucleus. Bohr was astonished by this, but in 1936 he had speculated that the uranium nucleus would just explode. He, his son Erik, and his associate Léon Rosenfeld then took a ship to New York, arriving on January 16, 1939. Rosenfeld reported the discovery of fission that evening to the Princeton physics journal club. On January 26, physicists everywhere learned about this stunning discovery when Bohr and Fermi reported it at a conference in Washington, D.C. Physicists entered the New World of Nuclear Physics, taking Humanity with them.
Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262033985
- eISBN:
- 9780262334426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262033985.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Traces the series of Monte Carlo simulations run on ENIAC from their genesis in January 1947 exchanges between John von Neumann, Robert Richtmyer, and Stanislaw Ulam through the completion of ...
More
Traces the series of Monte Carlo simulations run on ENIAC from their genesis in January 1947 exchanges between John von Neumann, Robert Richtmyer, and Stanislaw Ulam through the completion of detailed planning work for the initial batch of calculations in December 1947. Close attention to successive drafts illuminates the process by which John and Klara von Neumann worked with Adele Goldstine to transform the former’s outline plan of computation into a fully developed flow diagram documenting the flow of control and manipulation of data for a program written in the new style.Less
Traces the series of Monte Carlo simulations run on ENIAC from their genesis in January 1947 exchanges between John von Neumann, Robert Richtmyer, and Stanislaw Ulam through the completion of detailed planning work for the initial batch of calculations in December 1947. Close attention to successive drafts illuminates the process by which John and Klara von Neumann worked with Adele Goldstine to transform the former’s outline plan of computation into a fully developed flow diagram documenting the flow of control and manipulation of data for a program written in the new style.
Roger H. Stuewer
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198827870
- eISBN:
- 9780191866586
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198827870.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics, Nuclear and Plasma Physics
Nuclear physics emerged as the dominant field in experimental and theoretical physics between 1919 and 1939, the two decades between the First and Second World Wars. Milestones were Ernest ...
More
Nuclear physics emerged as the dominant field in experimental and theoretical physics between 1919 and 1939, the two decades between the First and Second World Wars. Milestones were Ernest Rutherford’s discovery of artificial nuclear disintegration (1919), George Gamow’s and Ronald Gurney and Edward Condon’s simultaneous quantum-mechanical theory of alpha decay (1928), Harold Urey’s discovery of deuterium (the deuteron), James Chadwick’s discovery of the neutron, Carl Anderson’s discovery of the positron, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton’s invention of their eponymous linear accelerator, and Ernest Lawrence’s invention of the cyclotron (1931–2), Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie’s discovery and confirmation of artificial radioactivity (1934), Enrico Fermi’s theory of beta decay based on Wolfgang Pauli’s neutrino hypothesis and Fermi’s discovery of the efficacy of slow neutrons in nuclear reactions (1934), Niels Bohr’s theory of the compound nucleus and Gregory Breit and Eugene Wigner’s theory of nucleus+neutron resonances (1936), and Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch’s interpretation of nuclear fission, based on Gamow’s liquid-drop model of the nucleus (1938), which Frisch confirmed experimentally (1939). These achievements reflected the idiosyncratic personalities of the physicists who made them; they were shaped by the physical and intellectual environments of the countries and institutions in which they worked; and they were buffeted by the profound social and political upheavals after the Great War: the punitive postwar treaties, the runaway inflation in Germany and Austria, the Great Depression, and the greatest intellectual migration in history, which encompassed some of the most gifted experimental and theoretical nuclear physicists in the world.Less
Nuclear physics emerged as the dominant field in experimental and theoretical physics between 1919 and 1939, the two decades between the First and Second World Wars. Milestones were Ernest Rutherford’s discovery of artificial nuclear disintegration (1919), George Gamow’s and Ronald Gurney and Edward Condon’s simultaneous quantum-mechanical theory of alpha decay (1928), Harold Urey’s discovery of deuterium (the deuteron), James Chadwick’s discovery of the neutron, Carl Anderson’s discovery of the positron, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton’s invention of their eponymous linear accelerator, and Ernest Lawrence’s invention of the cyclotron (1931–2), Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie’s discovery and confirmation of artificial radioactivity (1934), Enrico Fermi’s theory of beta decay based on Wolfgang Pauli’s neutrino hypothesis and Fermi’s discovery of the efficacy of slow neutrons in nuclear reactions (1934), Niels Bohr’s theory of the compound nucleus and Gregory Breit and Eugene Wigner’s theory of nucleus+neutron resonances (1936), and Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch’s interpretation of nuclear fission, based on Gamow’s liquid-drop model of the nucleus (1938), which Frisch confirmed experimentally (1939). These achievements reflected the idiosyncratic personalities of the physicists who made them; they were shaped by the physical and intellectual environments of the countries and institutions in which they worked; and they were buffeted by the profound social and political upheavals after the Great War: the punitive postwar treaties, the runaway inflation in Germany and Austria, the Great Depression, and the greatest intellectual migration in history, which encompassed some of the most gifted experimental and theoretical nuclear physicists in the world.
Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262033985
- eISBN:
- 9780262334426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262033985.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
As soon as Metropolis had completed the initial configuration of ENIAC for the new programming method, and before it was working properly, Klara von Neumann arrived to help. She had taken the leading ...
More
As soon as Metropolis had completed the initial configuration of ENIAC for the new programming method, and before it was working properly, Klara von Neumann arrived to help. She had taken the leading role in converting the flow diagrams into program code, and together they worked around the clock for several weeks to get both program and machine into a usable state and to shuffle tens of thousands of cards in and out of it during Monte Carlo simulation of each exploding fission bomb. This chapter integrates the narrative of this initial “run,” of and a second batch of calculations carried out in late-1948 with analysis of the structure of the program itself. It finishes with an exploration of further Monte Carlo work run on ENIAC, including reactor simulations, simulation of uranium-hydride bombs, and in 1950 simulation of the “Super” concept for a hydrogen weapon.Less
As soon as Metropolis had completed the initial configuration of ENIAC for the new programming method, and before it was working properly, Klara von Neumann arrived to help. She had taken the leading role in converting the flow diagrams into program code, and together they worked around the clock for several weeks to get both program and machine into a usable state and to shuffle tens of thousands of cards in and out of it during Monte Carlo simulation of each exploding fission bomb. This chapter integrates the narrative of this initial “run,” of and a second batch of calculations carried out in late-1948 with analysis of the structure of the program itself. It finishes with an exploration of further Monte Carlo work run on ENIAC, including reactor simulations, simulation of uranium-hydride bombs, and in 1950 simulation of the “Super” concept for a hydrogen weapon.
