This book begins with a surreptitious briefing of Dwight D. Eisenhower on the status of nuclear technology in the United States a few days after his election as President in 1952. So secret was the occasion that only Eisenhower himself and two government officials knew at the time that the meeting had taken place, much less what was revealed. Some of the infor- mation conveyed was considered too sensitive to be committed to paper, and the official who spoke with the President-elect destroyed all his notes as soon as he left the room.
The book ends in autumn 1960, just eight years later, as Eisenhower was completing his second term. By that time he had become a central figure in a growing national and international debate on the terrifying issues that could lead to nuclear war or world peace. The place of nuclear power in the world economy and in military strategy was no longer the concern of a few thousand scientists, engineers, and government officials living in se- cret conclaves sealed off from the rest of the world by elaborate security barriers. Nuclear technology had now become a part of the political, the economic, and even the social fabric of the United States and the industri- alized nations of the West.
How this remarkable change occurred in less than a decade is a question that historians have only begun to probe, and when they do they will find it a subject of extraordinary complexity and interest. As one would ex- pect, some aspects of the emergence of nuclear technology are recorded in the conventional records of national and international politics. But for an adequate understanding of the subject, historians must also dig into complex issues of economic policy, including the role of national govern- ments and private industry in developing nuclear and conventional power sources, the changing prospects of economic use of nuclear power in dif- ferent parts of the world, and the impact of technological development on these prospects.
This book provides comprehensive research findings related to the environmental monitoring of radiation, levels of radioactive nuclides in various environments and dose estimation in residents after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident caused severe environmental contamination with radioactive nuclides. At the beginning of the book, a technical review written by a leading researcher of nuclear reactor technology explains what happened at the power plant. The review is followed by a commentary from a former member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, providing the reader with easily understandable information about the concept of radiation dosage. In the main part of the book, a series of scientific reports presents valuable data on the radiation surveys of the environment, environmental radioactivity, transfer models and parameters of radioactive nuclides and dose assessment among residents. These reports present a wide range of findings from the research carried out in a variety of activities by large governmental organizations as well as by small private groups and individuals. The reader thus will find a large collection of valuable and interesting data related to the environmental contamination by radioactive nuclides after the Fukushima accident. Although earlier reports on this issue have been made public, this book is the only publication to fully depict the actual situation by providing comprehensive data obtained by diverse organizations and individuals.
This book summarizes presentations and discussions from the two-day international workshop held at UC Berkeley in March 2015, and derives questions to be addressed in multi-disciplinary research toward a new paradigm of nuclear safety. The consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011 have fuelled the debate on nuclear safety: while there were no casualties due to radiation, there was substantial damage to local communities. The lack of common understanding of the basics of environmental and radiological sciences has made it difficult for stakeholders to develop effective strategies to accelerate recovery, and this is compounded by a lack of effective decision-making due to the eroded public trust in the government and operators. Recognizing that making a society resilient and achieving higher levels of safety relies on public participation in and feedback on decision-making, the book focuses on risk perception and mitigation in its discussion of the development of resilient communities.
This book summarizes presentations and discussions from the two-day international workshop held at UC Berkeley in March 2015, and derives questions to be addressed in multi-disciplinary research toward a new paradigm of nuclear safety. The consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011 have fuelled the debate on nuclear safety: while there were no casualties due to radiation, there was substantial damage to local communities. The lack of common understanding of the basics of environmental and radiological sciences has made it difficult for stakeholders to develop effective strategies to accelerate recovery, and this is compounded by a lack of effective decision-making due to the eroded public trust in the government and operators. Recognizing that making a society resilient and achieving higher levels of safety relies on public participation in and feedback on decision-making, the book focuses on risk perception and mitigation in its discussion of the development of resilient communities.