A Review: Atomic Geography: A Personal History of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Nuclear Reactions: Documenting American Encounters with Nuclear Energy

Abstract

An incomplete nuclear reactor project shut down after more than nine years of work and nine billion dollars invested. A war of words between Korean President Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump and the threat of nuclear war. These two seemingly disconnected events are linked by a common denominator—the ongoing fascination with the power of the atom. Two recently published books can help those not familiar with the history of commercial or military nuclear power in the USA make better sense of these current events as they explore the highs and lows of the nuclear industry. Atomic Geography: A Personal History of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation by Melvin R. Adams captures personal insights into the waning years at Hanford, when plutonium production for the US weapons stockpile was giving way to environmental clean-up. James W. Feldman’s Nuclear Reactions: Documenting American Encounters with Nuclear Energy provides excerpts of 70 years of published documents to describe the ongoing hope in what nuclear energy might provide for society and intense fear of a nuclear melt down or all-out nuclear war. Together, the two books provide an interesting picture of nuclear industry in the USA.