Critical Reflections on Nuclear and Renewable Energy: Environmental Protection and Safety in the Wake of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

207 Pages·2014·1.43 MB·English

by  Way Kuo

Critical Refl ections on Nuclear and
Renewable Energy
Scrivener Publishing
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Beverly, MA 01915-6106
Publishers at Scrivener
Martin Scrivener ([email protected])
Phillip Carmical ([email protected])
Critical Refl ections on
Nuclear and Renewable
Energy
Environmental Protection
and Safety in the Wake of the
Fukushima Nuclear Accident
Way Kuo
President of City University of Hong Kong
Copyright © 2014 by Scrivener Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.
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Cover design by Russell Richardson
Library of Congr ess Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
ISBN 978-1-118-77342-0
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword 1 ix
by Arden Bement
Foreword 2 xiii
by Xu Kuangdi
Preface xvii
Introduction xxi
Part I Th e World aft er March 11, 2011 — Ripple Eff ect
of the Fukushima Accident
1 Reliability and Nuclear Power 3
2 Some Flowers Fall, and Again Th ey Bloom 15
3 Diff erent Responses Across the Waters 21
4 Aging and Reliability 27
5 Transparent Management Guarantees Nuclear Safety 31
6 Th e Need for Quality Control 39
7 Don’t Let Gossip Aff ect the Safe Operation of Nuclear Power 45
v
vi Contents
Part II Environmental Protection, Occupational Safety
and Innovation — A Spectrum of Energies
8 A Spectrum of Energy Sources 59
9 Facts about Background Radiation 67
10 Human Negligence of Occupational Safety Leads to
Numerous Accidents 73
11 When Will Environmental Pollution End? 81
12 Non-nuclear Calamities Are Also Horrible 93
13 Where Can We Find Safe Energy Sources? 99
14 Pick up Our Share of the Energy Cost 111
15 In Search of Innovation in Formulating Energy Policy 121
16 Practice Makes Great 129
Appendix I 135
Appendix II 149
Postscript 157
Additional Reading Materials 169
Aft erword 171
Index 173
Bureaucrats are those who feel disinclined to say what should be said
or to do what should be done.
Engineers are those who do not dare to say what should be said, but
persist stubbornly in doing what should be done.
Scholars are those who say whatever comes to their mind, but shy
away from doing what should be done.
Politicians are people who talk rot without thinking and act rashly
and randomly without regard to whether such action should be taken.