Alongside renewables, nuclear power is often promoted as a viable energy option for major expansion in the future. However, it faces significant problems. Taking a critical approach towards the ongoing viability of nuclear energy solutions, this research and reference text contextualises the vices and virtues of fusion and fission against the rapidly expanding area of renewables and the challenge of climate change, in order to assess the future viability of nuclear power. This thoroughly updated second edition contains extensive new content on the prospects of nuclear power and progress made in the 2020s. It is an invaluable resource for researchers and postgraduate students in areas of nuclear power and nuclear energy, as well as for general readers interested in the nuclear debate.
Содержание
1. Introduction: the nuclear vision 1.1 Nuclear energy: uranium in a bucket The basics of nuclear power 1.2 Atoms for peace Civil nuclear from weapons technology 1.3 The rise and fall of nuclear How it developed and then stalled 1.4 Onto Generation IV? New options: revisiting the past 2. Nuclear innovation: the early days 2.1 Early US experiments TIGA, US Army, Navy and Air Force tests 2.2 Thorium reactors and fast breeders AEC, ORNL and Idaho tests 2.3 Generation IV design parameters and constraints Summary 3. New brooms in the 2000s 3.1 Back to Breeders and thorium Safety and security issues 3.2 Small is beautiful: SMRs Issues of scale and cost 3.3 New reactor choices and prospects Slow or fast neutrons? 4. Progress in the 2020s 4.1 SMRs Small Modular Reactors: the state of play 4.2 ANT Advanced Nuclear Technology: what next? 4.3 Fusion The ultimate nuclear option: but when? 5. Nuclear power revisited 5.1 A review of the prospects for new nuclear Economics, EROEIs 5.2 Carbon intensity, materials and land use issues Is nuclear better? 5.3 Nuclear and renewables Grid balancing issues, complementarity 5.4 What is the long-term future for nuclear? Strategic issues 6. Conclusions: the way ahead Dead end or new hope? Afterword: insider views Pros and cons Appendix: Nuclear and Renewables compared
Об авторе
David Elliott BSc, Ph D, is Emeritus Professor of Technology Policy at the Open University. Prof. Elliott has written extensively on sustainable energy policy, including several books and a blog for Physics World. He is the editor of the long-established journal Renew, and the IOP Book Series in Renewable and Sustainable Power.
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