R.E. Hester and R.M. Harrison (Eds.): Nuclear Power and the Environment

Abstract

As volume 32 in the RSC series entitled ‘‘Issues in Environmental Science and Technology’’ it follows the general series pattern of editors selecting a range of experienced authors to collate relevant facts that will thoroughly cover the subject matter. Divided into nine chapters, all principal environmental issues in the nuclear industry are dealt with, but there is a distinct UK-centric bias. Each chapter is well referenced, but surprisingly poor cross-indexing makes it difficult to move easily from subject to subject. Globally 436 nuclear power plants have been built, 60 more are under construction and 131 proposed; but now comes the contradiction—the eye-watering estimates for decommissioning, with a prediction of $1 trillion for the USA alone. It is widely assumed that the cost of decommissioning a nuclear generator is the same as its construction cost—but then there is an actual cost, declared in the press but not included in this book. The Windscale advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) has just been totally stripped, leaving the building available for reoccupation, at a cost of £110 M—quite a contrast with prediction. It is also claimed the next decommissioning will cost even less. In contrast high level waste (HLW) disposal is in a mess, with most nations continually pushing the problem into the future, exceptions being Sweden and Finland. Sellafield alone has 100 tones of separated plutonium to either use or dispose of; so who will take the decision to store it safely; or better, utilise it as a fuel? The one route clearly not in consideration is to research and build reactors known as accelerator driven systems (ADS) where thorium replaces uranium as the primary fuel. These reactors also consume HL wastes as fuel. Creating what will be in effect a new industrial sector is already well advanced in China and India—but not anywhere in Europe. The lack of a mention of this possible opportunity for European countries is very surprising in a book with this title. With over a century of accumulated knowledge, more is probably known about the effects of radiation on humans than there is about the effects of any other hazard. The average lifetime background dose from natural exposure is 2.2 mSv. In a study of 174,500 workers just 6% had experienced a lifetime dose exceeding 100 mSv, and it was shown statistically that this group had no increase in cancer over that indicated from national rates. There was, however, a slightly elevated risk of leukaemia. In contrast, many European health services restrict mammograms to bi-annual assessment, which have an individual exposure level of 0.4 mSv. This compares to a 0.1 mSv contribution from a 10-h flight, and 16 mSv from a CT heart scan. Bibliography Nuclear Power and the Environment R.E. Hester and R.M. Harrison (Eds.) RSC Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2011, pp 246 ISBN 978-1-84973-194-2 GBP 65.00