A Brief History of Nuclear Reactor Accidents

Are you afraid of a nuclear reactor accident? Should you be? This book will arm you with the scientific knowledge necessary to make a rational and informed opinion on the subject, without having to be an expert in nuclear physics. Written so that a non-specialist can easily approach the highly technical aspects, it looks at all significant nuclear reactor accidents since the dawn of the Atomic Age and brings to light many crucial details that rarely, if ever, appear in the general media. Serge Marguet, an internationally renowned expert in reactor physics, breaks down the must-know technical aspects of numerous nuclear reactor accidents throughout history both famous and unknown from the first ever nuclear accident in Leipzig to the Chernobyl explosion and, finally, the Fukushima affair and its most recent developments. With many high-quality photographs and diagrams, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned about nuclear safety, curious about nuclear reactors, or simply interested in the history and future of nuclear power.

Looks at the history and science of nuclear reactor accidents from an internationally recognized expert in the field Covers nuclear reactor accidents both famous and largely unknown since the beginning of the Atomic Age Equips the reader with the scientific knowledge necessary to form an informed opinion on the subject

Autorentext

Serge Marguet is a French engineer in Fluid Mechanics from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Hydraulique of Grenoble (France) and an engineer in Numerical Analysis from the Ecole Nationale d'Informatique et de Mathématiques Appliquées of Grenoble. He is an expert in Reactor Physics, a field in which he has worked for 35 years. Expert for I2EN, a French governmental nuclear certification body, and for the European Commission in the field of severe nuclear accidents, he has written numerous reference books in Neutronics, Reactor Physics and Reactor Technology, both in French and in English. He is married and has two grown-up children (who are moderately interested in nuclear energy!).

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. The Physics of Severe Nuclear Accidents.- 3. Pre-1980 Severe Accidents.- 4. Three Mile Island.- 5. Chernobyl.- 6. Fukushima.