Atoms And Ashes A Global History Of Nuclear Disasters

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Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters

Author : Serhii Plokhy
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 1324021055
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters by : Serhii Plokhy

Download or read book Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters written by Serhii Plokhy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A chilling account of more than half a century of nuclear catastrophes, by the author of the “definitive” (Economist) Cold War history, Nuclear Folly. Almost 145,000 Americans fled their homes in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in late March 1979, hoping to save themselves from an invisible enemy: radiation. The reactor at the nearby Three Mile Island nuclear power plant had gone into partial meltdown, and scientists feared an explosion that could spread radiation throughout the eastern United States. Thankfully, the explosion never took place—but the accident left deep scars in the American psyche, all but ending the nation’s love affair with nuclear power. In Atoms and Ashes, Serhii Plokhy recounts the dramatic history of Three Mile Island and five more accidents that that have dogged the nuclear industry in its military and civil incarnations: the disastrous fallout caused by the testing of the hydrogen bomb in the Bikini Atoll in 1954; the Kyshtym nuclear disaster in the USSR, which polluted a good part of the Urals; the Windscale fire, the worst nuclear accident in the UK’s history; back to the USSR with Chernobyl, the result of a flawed reactor design leading to the exodus of 350,000 people; and, most recently, Fukushima in Japan, triggered by an earthquake and a tsunami, a disaster on a par with Chernobyl and whose clean-up will not take place in our lifetime. Through the stories of these six terrifying incidents, Plokhy explores the risks of nuclear power, both for military and peaceful purposes, while offering a vivid account of how individuals and governments make decisions under extraordinary circumstances. Today, there are 440 nuclear reactors operating throughout the world, with nuclear power providing 10 percent of global electricity. Yet as the world seeks to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change, the question arises: Just how safe is nuclear energy?

Atoms and Ashes

Author : Serhii Plokhy
Publisher : Penguin Press
ISBN 13 : 9780141997179
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (971 download)

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Book Synopsis Atoms and Ashes by : Serhii Plokhy

Download or read book Atoms and Ashes written by Serhii Plokhy and published by Penguin Press. This book was released on 2023-08-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY SUNDAY TIMES AND HISTORY TODAY 'Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen' Kai Bird Best-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . . In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe. As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.

Atomic Accidents

Author : James Maheffey
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1639360107
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (393 download)

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Book Synopsis Atomic Accidents by : James Maheffey

Download or read book Atomic Accidents written by James Maheffey and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters. Mahaffey, a long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy, looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns.Every incident has lead to new facets in understanding about the mighty atom—and Mahaffey puts forth what the future should be for this final frontier of science that still holds so much promise.

Fukushima

Author : David Lochbaum
Publisher : New Press, The
ISBN 13 : 1620971186
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Fukushima by : David Lochbaum

Download or read book Fukushima written by David Lochbaum and published by New Press, The. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A gripping, suspenseful page-turner” (Kirkus Reviews) with a “fast-paced, detailed narrative that moves like a thriller” (International Business Times), Fukushima teams two leading experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists, David Lochbaum and Edwin Lyman, with award-winning journalist Susan Q. Stranahan to give us the first definitive account of the 2011 disaster that led to the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl. Four years have passed since the day the world watched in horror as an earthquake large enough to shift the Earth's axis by several inches sent a massive tsunami toward the Japanese coast and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing the reactors' safety systems to fail and explosions to reduce concrete and steel buildings to rubble. Even as the consequences of the 2011 disaster continue to exact their terrible price on the people of Japan and on the world, Fukushima addresses the grim questions at the heart of the nuclear debate: could a similar catastrophe happen again, and—most important of all—how can such a crisis be averted?

Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Author : Serhii Plokhy
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393540820
Total Pages : 426 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (935 download)

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Book Synopsis Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis by : Serhii Plokhy

Download or read book Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis written by Serhii Plokhy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The definitive history.…With his masterly book, Mr. Plokhy has sounded a warning bell." — The Economist A harrowing account of the Cuban missile crisis and how the US and USSR came to the brink of nuclear apocalypse. Nearly thirty years after the end of the Cold War, today’s world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy’s Nuclear Folly offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground. In breathtaking detail, Plokhy vividly recounts the young JFK being played by the canny Khrushchev; the hotheaded Castro willing to defy the USSR and threatening to align himself with China; the Soviet troops on the ground clearing jungle foliage in the tropical heat, and desperately trying to conceal nuclear installations on Cuba, which were nonetheless easily spotted by U-2 spy planes; and the hair-raising near misses at sea that nearly caused a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine to fire its weapons. More often than not, the Americans and Soviets misread each other, operated under false information, and came perilously close to nuclear catastrophe. Despite these errors, nuclear war was ultimately avoided for one central reason: fear, and the realization that any escalation on either the Soviets’ or the Americans’ part would lead to mutual destruction. Drawing on a range of Soviet archival sources, including previously classified KGB documents, as well as White House tapes, Plokhy masterfully illustrates the drama and anxiety of those tense days, and provides a way for us to grapple with the problems posed in our present day.

Idaho Falls

Author : William McKeown
Publisher : ECW Press
ISBN 13 : 1554905435
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (549 download)

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Book Synopsis Idaho Falls by : William McKeown

Download or read book Idaho Falls written by William McKeown and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2003-04-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The little-known true story of a mysterious nuclear reactor disaster—years before Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or Fukushima. Before the Three Mile Island incident or the Chernobyl disaster, the world’s first nuclear reactor meltdown to claim lives happened on US soil. Chronicled here for the first time is the strange tale of SL-1, an experimental military reactor located in Idaho’s Lost River Desert that exploded on the night of January 3, 1961, killing the three crewmembers on duty. Through exclusive interviews with the victims’ families and friends, firsthand accounts from rescue workers and nuclear industry insiders, and extensive research into official documents, journalist William McKeown probes the many questions surrounding this devastating blast that have gone unanswered for decades. From reports of faulty design and mismanagement to incompetent personnel and even rumors of sabotage after a failed love affair, these plausible explanations raise startling new questions about whether the truth was deliberately suppressed to protect the nuclear energy industry.

Chernobyl

Author : Serhii Plokhy
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 1541617088
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (416 download)

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Book Synopsis Chernobyl by : Serhii Plokhy

Download or read book Chernobyl written by Serhii Plokhy and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Chernobyl survivor and the New York Times bestselling author of The Gates of Europe "mercilessly chronicles the absurdities of the Soviet system" in this "vividly empathetic" account of the worst nuclear accident in history (Wall Street Journal). On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill. In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry, tracing the disaster to the authoritarian character of the Communist party rule, the regime's control over scientific information, and its emphasis on economic development over all else. Today, the risk of another Chernobyl looms in the mismanagement of nuclear power in the developing world. A moving and definitive account, Chernobyl is also an urgent call to action.

Three Mile Island

Author : J. Samuel Walker
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520239401
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis Three Mile Island by : J. Samuel Walker

Download or read book Three Mile Island written by J. Samuel Walker and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2004-03-22 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On March 28, 1979, the worst accident in the history of commercial nuclear power in the United States occurred at Three Mile Island. For five days, the citizens of central Pennsylvania and the entire world, amid growing alarm, followed the efforts of authorities to prevent the crippled plant from spewing dangerous quantities of radiation into the environment. This book is the first comprehensive, moment-by-moment account of the causes, context, and consequences of the Three Mile Island crisis. Walker captures the high human drama surrounding the accident, sets it in the context of the heated debate over nuclear power in the seventies, and analyzes the social, technical, and political issues it raised. He also looks at the aftermath of the accident on the surrounding area, including studies of its long-term health effects on the population.--From publisher description.

Bomb Scare

Author : Joseph Cirincione
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231135106
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis Bomb Scare by : Joseph Cirincione

Download or read book Bomb Scare written by Joseph Cirincione and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Cirincione provides a probing investigation into the proliferation of nuclear weapons and what can be done to slow, stop, and even reverse their spread.

Atomic Accidents

Author : Jim Mahaffey
Publisher : Open Road Media
ISBN 13 : 1480447749
Total Pages : 631 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis Atomic Accidents by : Jim Mahaffey

Download or read book Atomic Accidents written by Jim Mahaffey and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 631 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “delightfully astute” and “entertaining” history of the mishaps and meltdowns that have marked the path of scientific progress (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Radiation: What could go wrong? In short, plenty. From Marie Curie carrying around a vial of radium salt because she liked the pretty blue glow to the large-scale disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima, dating back to the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters. In this lively book, long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy James Mahaffey looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns. Every incident, while taking its toll, has led to new understanding of the mighty atom—and the fascinating frontier of science that still holds both incredible risk and great promise.

Atomic America

Author : Todd Tucker
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439158282
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Atomic America by : Todd Tucker

Download or read book Atomic America written by Todd Tucker and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-03-03 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On January 3, 1961, nuclear reactor SL-1 exploded in rural Idaho, spreading radioactive contamination over thousands of acres and killing three men: John Byrnes, Richard McKinley, and Richard Legg. The Army blamed "human error" and a sordid love triangle. Though it has been overshadowed by the accident at Three Mile Island, SL-1 is the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in American history, and it holds serious lessons for a nation poised to embrace nuclear energy once again. Historian Todd Tucker, who first heard the rumors about the Idaho Falls explosion as a trainee in the Navy's nuclear program, suspected there was more to the accident than the rumors suggested. Poring over hundreds of pages of primary sources and interviewing the surviving players led him to a tale of shocking negligence and subterfuge. The Army and its contractors had deliberately obscured the true causes of this terrible accident, the result of poor engineering as much as uncontrolled passions. A bigger story opened up before him about the frantic race for nuclear power among the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force -- a race that started almost the moment the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), where the meltdown occurred, had been a proving ground where engineers, generals, and admirals attempted to make real the Atomic Age dream of unlimited power. Some of their most ambitious plans bore fruit -- like that of the nation's unofficial nuclear patriarch, Admiral Rickover, whose "true submarine," the USS Nautilus, would forever change naval warfare. Others, like the Air Force's billion dollar quest for a nuclear-powered airplane, never came close. The Army's ultimate goal was to construct small, portable reactors to power the Arctic bases that functioned as sentinels against a Soviet sneak attack. At the height of its program, the Army actually constructed a nuclear powered city inside a glacier in Greenland. But with the meltdown in Idaho came the end of the Army's program and the beginning of the Navy's longstanding monopoly on military nuclear power. The dream of miniaturized, portable nuclear plants died with McKinley, Legg, and Byrnes. The demand for clean energy has revived the American nuclear power industry. Chronic instability in the Middle East and fears of global warming have united an unlikely coalition of conservative isolationists and fretful environmentalists, all of whom are fighting for a buildup of the emission-free power source that is already quietly responsible for nearly 20 percent of the American energy supply. More than a hundred nuclear plants generate electricity in the United States today. Thirty-two new reactors are planned. All are descendants of SL-1. With so many plants in operation, and so many more on the way, it is vitally important to examine the dangers of poor design, poor management, and the idea that a nuclear power plant can be inherently safe. Tucker sets the record straight in this fast-paced narrative history, advocating caution and accountability in harnessing this feared power source.

Summary of Serhii Plokhy's Atoms and Ashes

Author : Everest Media,
Publisher : Everest Media LLC
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 45 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (225 download)

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Book Synopsis Summary of Serhii Plokhy's Atoms and Ashes by : Everest Media,

Download or read book Summary of Serhii Plokhy's Atoms and Ashes written by Everest Media, and published by Everest Media LLC. This book was released on 2022-07-02T22:59:00Z with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Ionizing radiation, the emission or transmission of energy, comes in a variety of forms. The radiation produced by nuclear explosions and accidents carries enough energy to detach electrons from atoms and molecules. #2 The statue of Prometheus, a Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humankind, was erected in the city of Prypiat a few years before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. It now stands before the entrance to the office of the Chernobyl nuclear power station. #3 The main economic argument against nuclear energy is the cost of building a nuclear power plant. It now costs at least $112 per megawatt to build a nuclear plant, compared to $46 per megawatt for solar, $42 per megawatt for gas, and $30 per megawatt for wind. #4 The history of the nuclear industry is full of accidents that have caused public concern about the safety of nuclear reactors. The three major accidents that have rocked the civil nuclear sector are the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, and the Fukushima multiple reactor meltdown of 2011.

Nuclear Disaster in the Urals

Author : Zhores Medvedev
Publisher : W. W. Norton
ISBN 13 : 9780393334111
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (341 download)

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Book Synopsis Nuclear Disaster in the Urals by : Zhores Medvedev

Download or read book Nuclear Disaster in the Urals written by Zhores Medvedev and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 1979-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late in 1957 a huge explosion occurred in the disposal section of the Soviet atomic weapons industry located in the Southern Urals where atomic wastes had been stored for over ten years. The result was devastating. The primary radioactive contamination covered between 800 and 1200 square miles, an area almost as large as Rhode Island. People died--whole villages had to be evacuated and bulldozed. All that remained, both plant and animal life, received such a massive dose of radiation that its effects will probably be felt for as long as a century.

Eve of Destruction

Author : John Hughes-Wilson
Publisher : John Blake
ISBN 13 : 1789463386
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (894 download)

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Book Synopsis Eve of Destruction by : John Hughes-Wilson

Download or read book Eve of Destruction written by John Hughes-Wilson and published by John Blake. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler's crowd or Stalin's did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered' - US President Harry S. Truman Truman evidently understood the terrifying power of atomic weaponry, but no one could have realised its full potential when he ordered the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Those military attacks, along with the disasters at the Fukashima and Chernobyl nuclear reactors, might immediately spring to mind at the mention of nuclear destruction, but the vast majority of the events recorded in this book are entirely unknown to most people. This book records the facts - many of them still shrouded in secrecy - which show a worrying truth: we have teetered precariously on the brink of Armageddon far more frequently than the general public realises. Since that first and last atomic war in 1945, there have been a terrifying number of nuclear accidents and mishaps, from the careless or accidental to the genuinely intentional and only narrowly averted. Despite the catastrophic nature of any nuclear conflict, we have come to the very borders of such a situation ten times since the 1960s. Most people know about the Cuba Missile Crisis, and a few about Operation Able Archer in 1984, which, if anything, was even more frightening than Cuba, but there have been eight other occasions that might easily have toppled over into outright war. These were potential conflicts; but there have been other accidents, such as the reactor meltdown at the nuclear generating plant at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979, or the 'Palomares Incident' in 1966, when a USAF B-52 bomber crashed after a mid-air collision, dropping four hydrogen bombs on Spanish soil . . . Eve of Destruction is a warning from history - recent history. It is a call to sit up and listen, and to take note of the very real danger of nuclear catastrophe. It is a timely and important book because, after all, the future of our planet has to concern us all.

Chernobyl Roulette

Author : Serhii Plokhy
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781324079415
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (794 download)

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Book Synopsis Chernobyl Roulette by : Serhii Plokhy

Download or read book Chernobyl Roulette written by Serhii Plokhy and published by . This book was released on 2024-09-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A harrowing account of Russia's occupation of the Chernobyl and Zaporizhia nuclear power plants, and the dangers of nuclear power colliding with warfare.

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima

Author : Thomas Filburn
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319340557
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima by : Thomas Filburn

Download or read book Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima written by Thomas Filburn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the three most well-known and socially important nuclear accidents. Each of these accidents had significant, yet dramatically different, human and environmental impacts. Unique factors helped shape the overall pattern and scale of each disaster, but a major contributing factor was the different designs used for each reactor. Fukushima was a boiling water reactor (BWR), Chernobyl was a graphite moderated boiling water reactor, and TMI was a pressurized water reactor (PWR). This book traces the history of nuclear power and the development of each reactor type. We examine how GE’s work with a sodium cooled design did not fare well with the US Navy, and led GE to promulgate the BWR design. We explore the Russian atomic bomb program, its use of graphite moderated reactors, and their design modifications to create power production units. We trace the developments in the US that led the US Navy to select the PWR design, and caused the PWR to be used for nearly 2/3 of all US commercial reactors. In sum, the book uses the three major nuclear accidents as a lens to trace the technological history of nuclear energy production and to link these developments with long-term societal and environmental consequences. The book is intended for readers with an interest in nuclear power and nuclear disasters. The detailed and compelling account will appeal to both the expert and the interested lay-person.

Radioactivity: A Very Short Introduction

Author : Claudio Tuniz
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191633984
Total Pages : 177 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Radioactivity: A Very Short Introduction by : Claudio Tuniz

Download or read book Radioactivity: A Very Short Introduction written by Claudio Tuniz and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-07-26 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You cannot hide from radioactivity. Even the book you are holding is slightly radioactive, but there are more serious risks. Radioactivity - the breakdown of unstable atomic nuclei, releasing radiation - is a fundamental process in nature. It is a process that has been harnessed to provide wide and important applications in science, medicine, industry, and energy production. But it remains much misunderstood - and feared, perhaps because nuclear radiation cannot be detected by human senses, and can undoubtedly do great harm if appropriate precautions are not taken. In recent times there have been increasing concerns about nuclear terrorism. The traces of radioactive atoms in rocks have allowed us to understand the nature and history of the Earth, in particular to date events in that history. Radioactive dating has been used for a variety of purposes, from determining the age of the first hominids to the dating of the Turin Shroud. The discovery of radioactivity has improved our survival kit, but also gave us the chance to reach a new level of awareness on the history of our species and its environmental impacts. In this Very Short Introduction, Claudio Tuniz explains the nature of radioactivity and discuss its role in nature. Describing radioactivity in the stars and in the Earth, he also looks at its wide range of applications in biomedicine and in science, as well as the mechanisms of nuclear fission and fusion, and the harnessing of nuclear power. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.