The first accessible book to discuss all aspects of nuclear power to help combat climate change and lethal air pollution.

Scott L. Montgomery is a geoscientist, professor, and author who has published twelve books and many articles, essays, and papers, both in the sciences and humanities. His most recent title, The Shape of the New (2015), with Daniel Chirot, was selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 Best Books of 2015. In addition to teaching at the University of Washington, Seattle, he has lectured widely in North America and Europe, and is often interviewed for his expertise on energy-related topics. An earlier work, The Powers that Be: Global Energy for the Twenty-first Century and Beyond (2010) has been widely used as a text in energy courses and translated into a number of foreign languages.

Preface; Introduction; 1. Why nuclear and why now?; 2. How it began: weapons and their legacy; 3. What is nuclear energy? Some helpful background; 4. Nuclear energy for public power: history and limits; 5. Radiation: a guide for the perplexed; 6. Chernobyl and Fukushima: the meaning and legacy of accidents; 7. Godzilla's children: origins of nuclear anxiety; 8. Why not nuclear: points and counterpoints; 9. Global energy and nuclear power: the next 30 years; 10. The new context: climate change realities; 11. Launching a new nuclear power state: the United Arab Emirates; 12. Non-proliferation: preventing the spread of weapons; 13. Conclusion: is nuclear power essential?; Index.