Synopses & Reviews
"Walker's thoughtful and detailed history of the technology and politics of the nuclear waste problem lucidly illustrates why, more than sixty years after the Dawn of the Atomic Age, we have yet to get any of the stuff into the ground safely and effectively, where it belongs. This book should be required reading for everyone, whether politician, bureaucrat or citizen."and#151;Ronnie D. Lipschutz, author of
Radioactive Waste: Politics, Technology and Risk"Measured, informative, and well-argued, The Road to Yucca Mountain is typical Walker. One of the most knowledgeable historians on nuclear power has produced an essential work on a complex problemand#151;What to do with radioactive waste? In setting the context on this controversial subject, Walker educates us on how we confront nuclear power as a viable option and its long-range implications."and#151;Martin Melosi, author of Energy Metropolis
"Walker's fascinating account details the United States' 60-year search for radioactive waste solutions. Here scientists, policymakers, politicians, activists, and the public alternately clash and cooperate, and prospects for a solution wane and wax accordingly. In the end, after billions of dollars, years of hearings, and miles of tunnels, we're back at square one."and#151;Richard Wolfson, author of Nuclear Choices: A Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Technology
Review
and#8220;A valuable account of the history/ongoing issues related to this significant problem. . . . Recommended.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;An excellent resource.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Engaging, concise, and disturbing.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Walkerand#8217;s history of U.S. nuclear waste management provides a clear reminder of the potential pitfalls of disposal of this material...to ignore these is to invite failure yet again.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Walker has demonstrated that there is an important place for public history in the scholarly arena. . . . Well-researched, objective, and informative.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;No author could more expertly exhume the bones of this institutional history than Walker.and#8221;
Synopsis
In The Road to Yucca Mountain, J. Samuel Walker traces the U.S. government's tangled efforts to solve the technical and political problems associated with radioactive waste. From the Manhattan Project through the designation in 1987 of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a high-level waste repository, Walker thoroughly investigates the approaches adopted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He explains the growing criticism of the AEC's waste programs, such as the AEC's embarrassing failure in its first serious effort to build a high-level waste repository in a Kansas salt mine. Clearly and accessibly, Walker explains the issues surrounding deep geological disposal and surface storage of high-level waste and spent reactor fuel. He analyzes the equally complex and divisive question of fuel and#147;reprocessing.and#8221; He weaves reliable research with fresh insights about nuclear science, geology, politics, and public administration, making this original and authoritative account an essential guide for understanding the continuing controversy over an illusive and emotional topic.
About the Author
J. Samuel Walker is the historian of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He is the author of Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective and Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century as well as Containing the Atom: Nuclear Regulation in a Changing Environment, 1963-1971, all from UC Press.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
1. A Solvable Problem
2. A and#147;Huge and Ever-Increasing Problemand#8221;
3. An and#147;Atomic Garbage Dumpand#8221; for Kansas
4. New Directions in Radioactive Waste Management
5. Progressing toward Stalemate
6. Commercial Low-Level Waste: A "Once Low Priority Matter"
7. The Transportation of Nuclear Waste
8. A Legislative and#147;Solutionand#8221;
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index