America’s Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup
This Book Review Is Officially a Part of the Eco-Libris Campaign: 200 Bloggers, 200 Books, 56 Publishers And One Hour
More information on the campaign can be found here, or as it is excerpted below this review.
America’s Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup (Max Power, Washington State University Press 2008, 192 pages)
[caption id="attachment_1399" align="alignleft" width="200"] Americas Nuclear Wastelands, Max Power[/caption]
In what is the most factual and comprehensive account of nuclear waste, storage, and cleanup, Max Power’s America’s Nuclear Wastelands is not for the faint of heart. It’s a sober and ruthlessly detailed picture of the entire sordid sixty year history of ever-controversial, and now re-emergent, nuclear technology.
In fact, that ruthless attention detail is why this book is so important to the discussion of nuclear energy, weaponry and energy costs – all of which are as current now as they were sixty years ago. And Power's encyclopedic understanding of the technology (Power was a former government contractor whose job was to handle nuclear waste issues in the Pacific Northwest), and his ability to distill these extremely complex ideas into digestible, understandable bits makes this book stand out. His ability to convey these ideas to a layperson, something Powers undoubtedly did regularly with the Department of Energy during his tenure convincing them of the seriousness of these issues, really guides the reader through what would have surely read like a technical manual in a less capable author’s hands.
He is able to traverse the volatile political landscape of nuclear waste removal, cleanup in the past, the present and the future stewardship that is needed desperately. Powers illustrates the possibility of catastrophe with several heart-stopping examples of nuclear waste gone awry -- like radionuclides leaking into soil and groundwater from deteriorating storage facilities that are no longer kept up. But, he doesn't do it to be sensational; Powers just presents the facts and offers well thought-out plans to avoid these disasters. It's the kind of book every American would want to be on the President's stack of reading. Ultimately, what is most refreshing and why this book on nuclear waste is frankly the last word on the subject is Powers’s ability to not demonize nuclear power – he absolutely sees its importance and utility in modern life in the West, its importance in stabilizing regions of the East and its affordability in a long-term global economic downturn.
Nuclear power and the at-times hysterical fear that surrounds the subject can often overshadow any reasonable debate on the matter – Powers transcends that noise and delivers a clear and compelling vision for the future of humanity and its relationship with nuclear energy and nuclear waste, in America’s Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup.
More Information on the Eco-Libris Green Books Campaign
On Nov 10, at 1 p.m., 200 bloggers will simultaneously publish reviews of 200 books printed on eco-friendly paper to raise consumer awareness about considering the environment when making book purchases. Participation this year has doubled from 2009.
On Wed., Nov. 10, at 1 p.m., 200 bloggers will simultaneously publish reviews of 200 books printed on environmentally-friendly paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using greener methods, Eco-Libris aims to raise consumer awareness about considering the environment when making book purchases. This year’s participation of both bloggers and books has doubled from the event’s inception last year.
The 200 books to be reviewed are in a variety of subjects including cooking, poetry, travel, green living, and history, and come from 56 publishers from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. that are participating in the Green Books Campaign. This diversified group of publishers includes both small and large presses who all print books on recycled and/or FSC-certified paper.