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Nuclear Power
Published three years before the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant partial core melt in Pennsylvania in 1979 and long before the Chernobyl and Fukishima disasters, Nuclear Power: The Unviable Option, A Critical Look at Our Energy Alternatives warned of grave safety and economic problems at U.S. nuclear power plants. Foreshadowing the Three Mile Island accident, the book provides a detailed description of a hypothetical nuclear core melt disaster in a pressurized water reactor like the Three Mile Island plant.
In addition to discussing nuclear accident risks, the book contains a thorough discussion of the nuclear fuel cycle including the health hazards of routine radiation releases from power plants, uranium mines, uranium mills, fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities. Other chapters cover nuclear proliferation and terrorism, nuclear power economics, and the availability of cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power. Technologies surveyed include energy efficiency, solar, wind, geothermal, ocean, and fusion power.
"I hope that every responsible citizen will read this book and think about the problem."
- Dr. Linus Pauling
"Perhaps the best in the latest series of books on the nation's nuclear economy. . . ."
- People and Energy
In addition to discussing nuclear accident risks, the book contains a thorough discussion of the nuclear fuel cycle including the health hazards of routine radiation releases from power plants, uranium mines, uranium mills, fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities. Other chapters cover nuclear proliferation and terrorism, nuclear power economics, and the availability of cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power. Technologies surveyed include energy efficiency, solar, wind, geothermal, ocean, and fusion power.
"I hope that every responsible citizen will read this book and think about the problem."
- Dr. Linus Pauling
"Perhaps the best in the latest series of books on the nation's nuclear economy. . . ."
- People and Energy
Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
4 people want to read
About the author
John J. Berger
12 books20 followersJohn J. Berger launched the environmental restoration movement in 1985 with his book Restoring the Earth: How Americans Are Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment. He also founded and directed the nonprofit Restoring the Earth, Inc., which worked to advance the cause of environmental restoration via public education and environmental policy development. Through Restoring the Earth, Berger and his staff initiated a seminal environmental restoration conference that prominently brought restoration to media and public attention.
Dr. Berger has authored and edited eleven books on energy and environmental issues and is a long-time supporter of alternative energy solutions to global environmental problems. For many years he has repeatedly called attention to the nation’s excessive dependence on foreign oil and the huge attendant economic and environmental costs, and risks. He has outlined strategies for a clean, renewable energy economy in books such as Charging Ahead: The Business of Renewable Energy and What It Means for America, and Beating the Heat: How and Why We Must Combat Global Warming, and Climate Change Policy (Schneider et al, eds.).
Berger wrote one of the first books critical of nuclear power, Nuclear Power: The Unviable Option, which forewarned in 1976 of core-melt accident possibilities, such as the one that later occurred at Three Mile Island. In the same book, he highlighted the nuclear industry’s grave economic problems, which have since brought its expansion to a virtual standstill in the U.S. Later he co-founded and directed the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Inc. of Washington, D.C., which has provided critical information on nuclear power issues to millions of people and assisted safe energy organizations throughout the country.
As an independent energy and environmental consultant, he has worked for the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences, Fortune 500 companies, such as Lockheed and Chevron, nonprofit groups, and governmental organizations. His work has included providing assistance to firms in the assessment of renewable energy technology. As noted above, he served for two and a half years as consultant to the NRC for its national study on scientific, technological, and policy aspects of aquatic restoration, and he has been a consultant on restoration ecology to the Office of Technology Assessment of the U. S. Congress.
As a scientific consultant to the National Research Council, he helped to design, write, and edit the Council’s highly acclaimed national study, The Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystem: Science, Technology, and Public Policy (1990) that put aquatic ecosystem restoration more prominently in the public eye and higher on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s agenda.
Prior to his work in natural science, climate, and energy, Berger was an innovator in journalism, co-founding Alternative Features Service, Inc. in 1970 to support the development of alternative and college newspapers and radio stations in the U.S. with syndicated press materials that especially highlighted the creation of alternative institutions, such as free clinics, people’s banks, free universities, and alternative housing.
Dr. Berger has authored and edited eleven books on energy and environmental issues and is a long-time supporter of alternative energy solutions to global environmental problems. For many years he has repeatedly called attention to the nation’s excessive dependence on foreign oil and the huge attendant economic and environmental costs, and risks. He has outlined strategies for a clean, renewable energy economy in books such as Charging Ahead: The Business of Renewable Energy and What It Means for America, and Beating the Heat: How and Why We Must Combat Global Warming, and Climate Change Policy (Schneider et al, eds.).
Berger wrote one of the first books critical of nuclear power, Nuclear Power: The Unviable Option, which forewarned in 1976 of core-melt accident possibilities, such as the one that later occurred at Three Mile Island. In the same book, he highlighted the nuclear industry’s grave economic problems, which have since brought its expansion to a virtual standstill in the U.S. Later he co-founded and directed the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Inc. of Washington, D.C., which has provided critical information on nuclear power issues to millions of people and assisted safe energy organizations throughout the country.
As an independent energy and environmental consultant, he has worked for the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences, Fortune 500 companies, such as Lockheed and Chevron, nonprofit groups, and governmental organizations. His work has included providing assistance to firms in the assessment of renewable energy technology. As noted above, he served for two and a half years as consultant to the NRC for its national study on scientific, technological, and policy aspects of aquatic restoration, and he has been a consultant on restoration ecology to the Office of Technology Assessment of the U. S. Congress.
As a scientific consultant to the National Research Council, he helped to design, write, and edit the Council’s highly acclaimed national study, The Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystem: Science, Technology, and Public Policy (1990) that put aquatic ecosystem restoration more prominently in the public eye and higher on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s agenda.
Prior to his work in natural science, climate, and energy, Berger was an innovator in journalism, co-founding Alternative Features Service, Inc. in 1970 to support the development of alternative and college newspapers and radio stations in the U.S. with syndicated press materials that especially highlighted the creation of alternative institutions, such as free clinics, people’s banks, free universities, and alternative housing.
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