This book captures the status of current electrical energy markets including the principal forces affecting decisions on selecting an energy source. It represents a seminal work that lays out the electrical energy decision tree for selecting an energy source in a world that is on the verge of catastrophic global warming because of the choices that have been made in the name of cheap energy. The impetus for this book includes the dire need to mitigate continued anthropogenic causes of global warming by turning to carbon free energy sources.Nuclear energy represents such a carbon-free energy source and could be a partial solution to the existential threat facing future society---the threat of a warming planet and its consequential, catastrophic effects on future generations. The world is at ...

Laser isotope separation (LIS) is an emerging technology that uses relatively small, widely-available lasers to achieve civilian or weapons grade concentration of fissile material to fuel nuclear reactions. To date only a few, limited proliferation risk analyses of LIS technology have been conducted. This paper provides a historically and technically informed update on the current state of LIS technology and it explains the high likelihood of increased global LIS adoption. The paper also explains how international rules governing nuclear energy are ill-equipped to handle such new technology. It traces the current limitations to broader issues in international relations theory, especially the incomplete accounts of the role of technology in the proliferation dynamic in the dominant neoreali...

The Nagra/PSI Chemical Thermodynamic Data Base 01/01 is an encyclopedia of thermodynamic data recommended for environmental studies. The data base focuses on elements commonly found as major solutes in natural waters, and on actinides and fission products relevant for radioactive waste disposal projects. It is the official chemical thermodynamic data base used in Swiss radioactive waste disposal projects. The detailed discussion of every number recommended in this encyclopedia is the result of a multi man-year project of the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), a Swiss National Lab. The five authors of this work have many years of experience in research, data base development and the application of thermodynamic data in environmental studies. The data included for many elements are based on the...