The Road to Yucca Mountain: The Development of Radioactive Waste Policy in the United States (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780520260450)

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 "reprocessing." 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.

Author: J. Samuel Walker
ISBN-10: 0520260457
ISBN-13: 9780520260450
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 09/02/2009
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 9.30h x 5.96w x 0.78d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 09/18/2009 pg. 17
Choice 03/01/2010