Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey (PDF)

Description

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.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Mahaffey guides us through more than a century of atomic research, including misadventures with radioactive elixirs and long-forgotten accidents. The compelling tales unravel like slow-motion horror stories.” – NATURE“From clueless hunters wandering into caves teeming with radon-222, to fervid dreams of nuclear jets, and reactors bucking like steeds unused to human contact, Mahaffey keeps things appropriately dramatic. Truly valuable.” – Newsweek“Mahaffey employs his extensive knowledge of nuclear engineering to produce a volume that is by turns alarming, thought-provoking, humorous, and always fascinating.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW About the Author James Mahaffey was senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and has worked at the Defense Nuclear Agency, the National Ground Intelligence Center, and the Air Force Air Logistics Center, focusing on nuclear power, nano-technology, and cold fusion. He is the author of Atomic Awakening and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This was not the book I expected when I purchased it. I was expecting an authoritative, well researched, well documented treatise on the history of nuclear accidents. It was certainly that. But I was also expecting a dry, pedantic, academic, formal, and boring book that I was determined to slog thorough because I wanted to understand the topic.In a story that traces its plot from a wrecked 2-10-0 decapod steam engine in north Georgia in 1954 to a massive hydrogen explosion at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan in 2011, the human story is always front and center. Don’t misunderstand, Mahaffey understands the technology intimately and he describes the technical details with an engineers precision, but he also understands that it is the interface between the human and the machine where the true story is told, and time-and-time again, where the culprit of tragedy is to be found.Although the title makes it sound like an academic textbook, it reads more like a Sebastian Junger or Jon Krakauer adventure story. One where when you breathlessly complete it, you will be chagrined to realize you just may have read a textbook.There are two threads of striking similarities running through these stories. The first is how incaution led to so many of these accidents. At first, this seems surprising given the dangerous nature of the processes and materials being handled. But it reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend. We are both rock climbers and used to a certain element of risk. We were discussing a climber who was well known for incredibly difficult climbs without a rope and I suggested he was somehow fundamentally different from the rest of us. My friend disagreed and offered that each time we take a risk and have a positive outcome, our expectation of a positive outcome increases and conversely, our vigilance decreases. It is an interesting idea and one that highlights the imperativeness of following well designed safety procedures and how there can be little or no tolerance for mavericks here.The second striking thread was how many accidents were due to operators failing to follow procedures or mistrusting measurements because they followed their “gut instincts”. This thread might also seem to highlight the imperativeness of following well designed safety procedures and how there can be little or no tolerance for mavericks, but it less clear as we really have no good data on whether and how many accidents were averted by similar actions.This is a story of great tragedy and sometimes great catastrophe. It is a story that doesn’t shy away from telling the, often painful, stories of the very real human beings at the center of the events. Whether the result of ignorance, youthful exuberance, hubris, heroism, or luck, the pictures painted in these words are fitting testimonials to the tragic victims of these events.But this is ultimately an optimistic story. It tells the tale of a completely new technology from its earliest inception to the present day through the lens of adversity. But the ultimate sense one is left with is a sense of triumph. If there is any pessimism, it is from the nagging sensation that what should be one of humanities greatest triumphs may be abandoned out of misplaced fear.

⭐I found this to be a great read! The author clearly knows what he is talking about. He takes us through the chronology of nuclear accidents, starting with an understanding of what radioactive elements are in the first place and then describing a whole series of nuclear accidents, from the relatively minor and early ones to the major ones (like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima Daiichi). The author describes the nature of these accidents in language that is readily understandable by those of us without a Ph.D. in physics. He also enables the reader to understand how nuclear reactors work and what can (and did) go wrong with them. Some very interesting photos are included with the book (I have the ebook version). When I was done reading it for the day, I was always eager to pick the book up again and continue. It was highly enjoyable, and I would heartily recommend it.

⭐I’ve found the bok quite informative in relation to acidents and reactor/weapons design in general, but it’s far too centered in the US. While there is a chapter on the UK, and several on the big ones outside the US (Chernobyl and Fukushima), there is almost nothing on other nuclear nations (France, Germany, India, China, Italy, South Korea…), apart from about a dozen lines on France, and a mention of Finland during Chernobyl. More suprisingly, on the extensive description of liquid-metal reactors and why the USN didn’t use them, there’s no mention whatsoever (there or in the whole book) of the Soviet Alfa-class submarines, who did use them. At the end of the book, the author mentions a new generation of compact, mobile reactors but, again, fails to mention the Russian floating nuclear power stations, whicgh started to be built 7 years before this book came out… considering the author’s obvious knowledge of the industry and history, I can onkly assume these omissions are deliberate.

⭐As an ex-Navy submariner and Engineering Watch Supervisor, I really enjoyed this book. I trained on the A1W prototype in Idaho (1972) and spent a good deal of time on the other 2 plants (S5G and S1W). SL1 was a scary rumor at the time and the only teachable moment I remember is that we needed to always believe our instrumentation, especially with a reactor accident or potential contamination event. I think this came from the first responders at SL1 not believing their counters when they first rolled up. We had to live in Idaho Falls and commute by a bus just about every day. We drove right past where some of the stories in this book unfolded. Brought back a lot of memories.The boat I was on had a few situations that I was disappointed were not mentioned in the book. She was a very old boat, since retired with her reactor compartment buried out at the Hanford site. We had a couple primary to secondary leaks in our steam generators, as well as unexplained shield tank overflows while at sea.The primary leaks were first seen as iodine isotopes at the air ejectors on the main condensers. We had to isolate the engineering spaces and lived in our EAB’s for 3 weeks limping back to Pearl. At the time there were a number of incidents across the fleet, per the grapevine, leading to a crew on another boat refusing to go to sea. I was hoping to find where I could contact the author. Rickover’s nuclear navy did not have as spotless of a record as book seemed to imply at some points. Anyway, very good book, especially if you lived some of it.

⭐I’m not much of a reader, but since Jurassic Park, this book I read with great enthusiasm from cover to cover.Starting about staged train crashes in the 1800s to quash fears the public had about train crashes, and demonstrating how more lives were lost at a hydro electric accident in one go than at any nuclear accident initially, he goes on to explain how science, regulations, and humans have moved back and forth between focus, arrogance, belligerence, precision, understanding, prevention, care, misunderstanding but how through this, in time, we have learned about nuclear power and materials.The writing style is beautifully delivered as a conversational lecture with plenty of numbers and acronyms to keep the well informed alert, but still explains with all context so even someone with elementary understanding of science still can learn without being out of depth.Most pages have foot notes explaining concepts, acronyms, science, and background which while one does not have to read, is great to feel informed and delivered like a friendly hint by your mate sitting next to you in the lecture.There is plenty of light, but dry humour but always staying factual and respectful to both the personalities and brains that have taken us so far, but also quite direct about how people and “systems” can so often not perform to the standards expected. And why.This book very much celebrates nuclear technology, and while full of blunders which, in many cases, one should not raise a smile at (though I normally did), it does put ones mind at rest that these have always been learning experiences, and in time will never happen again. It puts great faith in nuclear technology.. but serves also as a warning of how people, politics, and science must work together and understand the effect of their decisions.

⭐This book covers nuclear accidents which you’ll have heard about, and many you won’t. My purpose in reading it was to gain knowledge on whether or not we’re too scared of nuclear. It could have been a great book if written in plain English, but as has been said, we’re two allies divided by a common language. Anyway, I think with some translation from “American smart ass” to Oxford English I’ve managed to gain a fair bit of knowledge. And yes, I am coming to the conclusion that the latest generation of nuclear generating plants may demonstrate that our fear is exaggerated. The alternative of destroying our planet looks a bit worse to me…

⭐I was surprised how much of a page turner I found this book.It is a technical book and some prior knowledge of nuclear materials and reactors will greatly enhance your reading pleasure. However, if you wish to skip the more detailed technical information and just focus on the descriptions of the disasters there is still a great deal here to interest the more casual reader.Highly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in the atomic age.

⭐Like many people, I like to read about the misadventure and/or incompetence that led to terrible accidents. And Mahaffey is actually a rather good story-teller. There’s nice understatement, and a little smile, as he leads you towards the terrible consequences of small deviations from what would have got away with, or indeed what would now be regarded as utterly cavalier and unacceptable.You learn quite a lot about practical nuclear physics and the chemistry of the substances involved, without it seeming wearing. It helps to have some basic kind of layman’s interest and knowledge of scientific matters.

⭐Having explored all but one nuclear accident site that I knew of, I bought this book not expecting to learn much, but I was wrong, and I discovered a few places to explore that I didn’t know about. Informative, knowledgeable, enticing…. This is without doubt the best book I have read on the subject, and everything is very well explained, even if you know very little about the subject, you should be able to follow things as they are explained and covered in mostly chronological order.

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