| Chapter 1 | |
| Nuclear Power--Act II | 1 |
| Chapter 2 | |
| Do We Need More Power Plants? | 9 |
| What Types of Plants Should We Build? | 11 |
| Electricity as a Substitute for Oil and Gas | 16 |
| Coal or Nuclear? | 16 |
| Chapter 3 | |
| Environmental Problems with Coal, Oil, and Gas | 19 |
| The Greenhouse Effect | 20 |
| Predicted Consequences of the Greenhouse Effect | 23 |
| Acid Rain | 26 |
| Air Pollution | 29 |
| Other Environmental Effects of Fossil Fuels | 34 |
| Conclusions | 37 |
| Chapter 4 | |
| Is the Public Ready for More Nuclear Power? | 39 |
| What the Polls Say | 40 |
| Public Misunderstanding | 46 |
| Chapter 5 | |
| How Dangerous Is Radiation? | 49 |
| Meet the Millirem | 51 |
| Scientific Basis for Risk Estimates | 54 |
| The Media and Radiation | 58 |
| A Poll of Radiation Health Scientists | 62 |
| Genetic Effects of Radiation | 63 |
| Other Health Impacts of Radiation | 69 |
| Irrational Fear of Radiation | 70 |
| Summary | 72 |
| Chapter 6 | |
| The Fearsome Reactor Meltdown Accident | 73 |
| Was the Three Mile Island Accident a Near Miss to Disaster? | 76 |
| Roads to Meltdown | 78 |
| How Secure Is the Containment? | 86 |
| The Probabilities | 89 |
| The Worst Possible Accident | 93 |
| Land Contamination | 95 |
| Public Misunderstanding | 96 |
| Nonsafety Issues | 96 |
| Chapter 7 | |
| The Chernobyl Accident--Can It Happen Here? | 103 |
| How Nuclear Reactors Work | 104 |
| U.S. Reactors versus Chernobyl-Type Reactors | 106 |
| The Chernobyl Accident--Blow-by-Blow | 108 |
| Effects on the Public | 112 |
| Lessons Learned | 113 |
| Chapter 8 | |
| Understanding Risk | 117 |
| A Catalog of Risks | 119 |
| Risks of Nuclear Energy in Perspective | 127 |
| Spending Money to Reduce Risks | 137 |
| Chapter 9 | |
| Costs of Nuclear Power Plants--What Went Wrong | 145 |
| Understanding Construction Costs | 146 |
| Regulatory Ratcheting | 150 |
| Regulatory Turbulence | 152 |
| The Future | 156 |
| Chapter 10 | |
| The Next Generation of Nuclear Power Plants | 159 |
| The New Design Philosophy | 160 |
| Licensing Reform | 163 |
| The Next Generation | 164 |
| Cost per Kilowatt-Hour | 168 |
| Chapter 11 | |
| Hazards of High-Level Radioactive Waste -- The Great Myth | 173 |
| A First Perspective | 174 |
| High-Level Radioactive Waste | 176 |
| Hazards and Protective Barriers | 178 |
| Quantitative Risk Assessment for High-Level Waste | 186 |
| Long-Term Waste Problems from Chemical Carcinogens | 190 |
| Should We Add Up Effects over Millions of Years? | 192 |
| Siting a Waste Repository | 195 |
| Why the Public Fear | 198 |
| Chapter 12 | |
| More on Radioactive Waste | 201 |
| Radon Problems | 201 |
| Routine Emissions of Radioactivity | 205 |
| Low-Level Radioactive Waste | 206 |
| Transuranic Waste | 211 |
| Summary of Results | 211 |
| The Real Waste Problem | 213 |
| West Valley--The Ultimate Waste Problem | 214 |
| Leaking Waste Storage Tanks | 218 |
| Waste Transport--When Radioactivity Encounters the Public | 220 |
| A Radioactive Waste Accident in the Soviet Union | 222 |
| Summary | 223 |
| Chapter 13 | |
| Plutonium and Bombs | 225 |
| Fuel of the Future | 226 |
| Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons | 231 |
| Nonproliferation Politics | 235 |
| A Tool for Terrorists? | 240 |
| Plutonium Toxicity | 246 |
| Chapter 14 | |
| The Solar Dream | 257 |
| Photovoltaics | 260 |
| Solar Thermal Electricity | 261 |
| Wind Turbines | 262 |
| Intermittent Availability | 264 |
| Solar versus Nuclear Power | 265 |
| Environmental Impacts of Solar Electricity | 267 |
| Solar versus Nuclear Politics | 268 |
| Conclusions | 271 |
| Chapter 15 | |
| Questions and Answers | 273 |
| Power Needs | 273 |
| Problems with Fossil Fuels | 274 |
| Radioactivity and Radiation | 275 |
| Trust and Faith | 279 |
| Reactor Accidents and Safety | 282 |
| Radioactive Waste | 284 |
| Miscellaneous Topics | 285 |
| Chapter 16 | |
| Recapitulation | 289 |
| Why Build More Nuclear Power Plants? | 289 |
| Public Misunderstanding | 291 |
| Cost Problems | 295 |
| Appendixes | 297 |
| Chapter 3 | 297 |
| Chapter 5 | 298 |
| Chapter 6 | 301 |
| Chapter 8 | 308 |
| Chapter 11 | 309 |
| Chapter 13 | 314 |
| References | 317 |
| Index | 333 |