Book to Note

James C. Warf. All Things Nuclear. 2nd edition. Los Angeles: Figueroa Press, 2005. (First published: Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989.) xv + 735 pp. $55.

Reviewed by Christopher P. Munden

Regardless of your views on human-induced climate change or the future of the petroleum supply, the fact remains that fossil fuels are limited, nonrenewable resources whose use leaves a large environmental footprint. Nuclear power, potentially the most abundant and cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels, has its own undeniable problems. It creates a legacy of radioactive waste, poses a risk of catastrophic pollution, and is indelibly associated with the terrifying specter of nuclear war. Nevertheless, public perceptions regarding nuclear energy are largely misconceived and inaccurate. James Warf ’s comprehensive All Things Nuclear, an extensively updated and expanded new edition of his 1989 publication, is an excellent reference for anyone interested in almost any aspect of nuclear energy, from the construction of power plants, to stories of famous disasters, to the health effects of radiation. I was interested to learn, for example, that the accident at Chernobyl (an antiquated Soviet plant) on 26 April 1986 did not occur during routine operation but rather during a misguided safety test in which key emergency systems were disabled. The greatest aim of engineering in modern nuclear power plants is to remove the risk of human error.

As the book’s title and page count indicate,Warf goes into extensive detail about all aspects of nuclear science and its applications and implications, including the history of atomic theories, the cold war arms race, and the various uses of radioactivity in medicine, geology, and archaeology. The roles of chemistry and chemical engineering in understanding and applying nuclear power are given extensive coverage. Its breadth makes All Things Nuclear an ideal book for dipping into, with each exploration guaranteed to yield an interesting tidbit or two.