Power and the people

摘要

Nuclear Renaissance provides a welcome addition to the literature on nuclear power. It is an unusual book, covering the history of nuclear power but also reflecting on recent policy and technological developments ― all presented in the clear voice of the author, William Nuttall. The book covers the broad scope of factors important for the future of nuclear power, while avoiding the pitfalls of either cheer-leading or simplistic criticism, both of which have characterized much of the nuclear-power literature during recent decades. Nuttall provides an accurate and concise survey of the important aspects of light- and heavy-water reactors, gas-cooled reactors and liquid metal-cooled reactors. Some of the other technologies he describes, such as actinide transmutation-focused accelerators and reactors, and the DUPIC concept ― using spent fuel from light-water reactors in heavy-water reactors ― are less likely to play a future role, but are nonetheless interesting. He correctly observes that reprocessing plutonium from spent fuel is unlikely to be economically justified or technologically important for several decades, as are reactor designs that depend on this practice.