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Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Energy Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America's Energy Odyssey |  | Author: William Tucker
Publisher: Bartleby Pr
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 25028
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 420
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0910155763
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.7924
EAN: 9780910155762
ASIN: 0910155763
Publication Date: September 19, 2008
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Product Description
This is quite possibly the most important book about energy in a generation. For over thirty years Americans have been fed a steady diet of half-truths, misinformation, urban legends and outright fabrications about energy. The small amount of accurate information that does reach us is often obscured by scientific terminology or one-sided political posturing.
When faced with a dramatic increase in energy demand, uncertain supplies and the potentially harmful effects of carbon emissions how are we to make informed choices?
Veteran journalist William Tucker has relied on years of research and investigation to help us
make sense of America s energy predicament without the burdens of political pressures or predetermined outcomes.
It seems odd that nuclear energy has to be reintroduced to America. After all, today, thirty years after we began construction of our last new nuclear reactor, it still supplies nearly 20 percent of our electrical energy needs. And surprisingly, all this output is from plants that were once considered relics, but are now being run with an efficiency and safety record that was hard to envision a decade ago.
Perhaps the misgivings have always been with us. Since dawn of the Atomic era, nuclear power has been inextricably associated with nuclear weapons--each reactor a bomb waiting to go off. The accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and its amazing convergence of timing with the film, The China Syndrome reinforced the idea that a nuclear meltdown is a real, terrifying possibility that could kill thousands of people. The later, catastrophic disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine heightened these fears.
And so the use of atomic energy became controversial. Yet as Tucker makes absolutely clear, nuclear is the same process that heats the center of the earth to 7,000oF, hotter than the surface of the sun.
The concentration of power
in the nucleus of the atom is incredible. The disintegration of a single uranium atom produces 2 million times more energy than the breaking of a carbon-hydrogen atom in coal, oil, or natural gas, all with zero carbon emissions and zero greenhouse gases.
In Terrestrial Energy, Tucker is not content to merely give an argument about why nuclear is the best choice for our energy future. Instead he meticulously surveys entire the energy scene that has frustrated Americans for the past 30 years. Is there such a thing as clean coal? Can we expect that onservation will ever reduce our energy consumption?
And what about the renewable energy sources (wind, solar energy, hydropower, and biofuels) and their promise of clean, plentiful power? Each has its place in America s energy mix but each of these sources also has serious problems. The limiting factor of all these technologies will not be the amount of energy radiating from the sun but the
amount of land that will be required to capture and store it.
And what are the real dangers of an increase in the use of nuclear power? We have learned to become fearful of radiation at any dose, when in reality, we are regularly exposed to its effects, it is naturally occurring, often benign and in some cases even beneficial. Then there is the waste that supposedly makes nuclear technology unmanageable. It is much less alarming when you consider that the reason America has a nuclear waste problem is because we fail to recycle our spent fuel rods.
At the same time that world energy demand steadily increases, Americans are also being asked to be better stewards of the environment. Now is the perfect moment to renew our commitment to use the greatest scientific discovery of the 20th century as the forward-thinking solution. Terrestrial energy is without doubt, the only realistic, practical answer to our energy dilemma.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 34
Reads like a Novel but Presents Clear Facts October 16, 2009
M. Nordloh (Ky.)
Terrestrial Energy is a very nice read for those wanting a clear and concise synopsis of the energy dilemma facing the U.S. It addresses the facts and concerns of man-made global warming (AGW) as well as I've seen in a short space, and presents very well the safety record of the nuclear industry post Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. This book doesn't completely dismiss alternative energy sources, but does shine a light on their shortcomings and high cost. Distributed generation is the new buzz word for environmentalist, but as presented in this book California didn't fare so well in this endeavor, nor should the U.S. with the push to go primarily to wind/solar to reduce CO2 emissions. Nuclear power should get a spot at the table, but first people have to become educated by reading books such as Terrestrial Energy.
There are several books out that try to address the U.S. dilemma of a secure energy policy while addressing the concerns of AGW. Unfortunately many of these books concentrate on the AGW portion and do a poor job of describing the need of base load electrical power needed to maintain a vibrant economy and standard of living expected by U.S. citizens. Electric cars have to get their electricity from somewhere, and most citizens don't want to take cold showers and read by candles at night. Many of these other books are poorly written with lots of facts and figures on solar and wind that are difficult to put into context with true cost, environmental impact, and the intermittent energy supply they provide for base load and peak electrical power currently provided primarily by coal and natural gas. These other books also fail to emphasize that wind and solar currently have to be backed up primarily by coal and gas because they are intermittent. Many of these other books also bash a U.S. nuclear program without the context of debateful facts, and what the rest of the world is safely accomplishing by recycling spent fuel rods for reuse as new fuel and medical isotopes versus burial at sites like Yucca Mountain, which will remain a political football for years to come as dictated by a misdirected U.S. policy, i.e nuclear weapon proliferation stemming from U.S. nuclear plant spent fuel rods.
 Recommended with some reservations June 21, 2009
F. Riaz (Toronto, Canada)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Every time I have to assign a less than perfect score to a book, I am compelled to justify my reasons. So, here goes
Why the 4 stars?
Because this book is everything the five star reviewers have said it is i.e. the author has done a great job of comparing the existing energy alternatives
Why the missing star?
On Pg 259 the author states "Wigner was a colleague of Einstein's at Princeton ..."
A more accurate statement:
While Eugene Wigner was a faculty member at Princeton University, Einstein was not. The professor was a faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Studies. The institute happens to be in Princeton but is not affiliated with Princeton University.
[...]
On Pg 291 the author writes "Carter was, after all, a former nuclear engineer under Admiral Hyman Rickover."
Correct Version:
A naval submarine officer yes, but certainly not a nuclear engineer. There is no record of Mr. Carter every studying nuclear engineering
[...]
These minor infractions cast a doubt on all other facts and figures quoted in the book. I sincerely hope that's not the case.
A persuasive case for Nuclear June 6, 2009
Herbert W. Whitney (Richardson, TX USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book. It is factual and analytical, yet understandable. I particularly liked the laymen's language explanations of the science behind each energy source.
Mr. Tucker is very credible in his de-bunking of scare tactics and unfounded fear-mongering by opponents of nuclear energy. There's nothing more persuasive than facts and real-world experience to counter myths. An important and interesting aspect of his book are his reports on numerous field trips to various places where research is conducted or energy is generated. And the decades of safe, economical, and reliable use of nuclear in France is a lesson for U.S. policymakers to study and understand.
A comprehensive overview of our energy future May 6, 2009
Ralph F. Sibley (Buffalo, NY)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is a valuable overview of our options for dealing with our energy needs while slowing global warming. Tucker weighs the pros and cons of solar, wind and other "renewables" as well as nuclear. He proposes an investment in both nuclear and solar, and supports his recommendation with solid arguments. A "must read" for anyone concerned with global warming and our energy future.
Tucker: An Advocate, but worth paying attention to April 24, 2009
T. Beckett (Eastern Shore, Maryland)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
William Tucker is clearly an advocate for nuclear energy. Nevertheless, if you are in favor of limiting greenhouse gasses and support alternative forms of energy production, you need to consider his arguments for a sizable build-out of large nuclear reactors that can supply the bulk of our future energy needs. He documents his arguments carefully with specific facts and forceful logic. And he confirms what I have long suspected: As attractive as the so called "green" renewable energy sources such as wind and solar may be, there are major limitations on the ability of these alternatives to replace fossil fuels. Tucker makes a convincing case the the risks that have made nuclear power abhorrent to most Americans have been exaggerated and that technology and management practices in the production of nuclear energy have improved dramatically since the Three Mile Island meltdown. Case in point: France obtains 80% of its energy from nuclear reactors, has yet to experience a melt down or even a significant release of radiation, and through recycling technology has reduced its annual nuclear waste volume to a storage facility no larger than four telephone booths! My conclusion after reading Terrestrial energy: The only way we are going to change the greenhouse gas problem and climate change is to use nuclear energy as the basic transformative tool.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 34
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