Meltdown
Stories of nuclear disaster and the human cost of going critical
Published on 29. October 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-78739-499-5 (ISBN)
Description
Meltdown investigates and recreates the dramatic events behind the most notorious nuclear accidents in history, as well as those shrouded in secrecy. Combining human tragedy with intriguing science, each account reveals new aspects of humanity's complex relationship with nuclear power and the ongoing struggle to harness and control it.
From the pioneers of Los Alamos who got up close and personal with the cores of atomic bombs, to the hapless engineers in Soviet fuel-processing plants who unwittingly mixed up a disaster in a bucket, and from the terrifying impact of a tsunami at Fukushima to the mystery of the recent Russian incident, Meltdown explores the past and future of this extraordinary and potentially lethal source of infinite power.
From the pioneers of Los Alamos who got up close and personal with the cores of atomic bombs, to the hapless engineers in Soviet fuel-processing plants who unwittingly mixed up a disaster in a bucket, and from the terrifying impact of a tsunami at Fukushima to the mystery of the recent Russian incident, Meltdown explores the past and future of this extraordinary and potentially lethal source of infinite power.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
50 b&w illus
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78739-499-5 (9781787394995)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2024
Welbeck Publishing Group
€4.49
Available for download
Person
Joel Levy is a writer and journalist specialising in science, nature and technology for younger audiences. His writing explores both mainstream science and weird technology, from chemistry and physics to death-rays and biomimetic robots. After taking degrees in molecular biology and psychology at Warwick and Edinburgh, he has gone on to write books including Really Useful, the science and history of everyday technology; Poison: A Social history, on the science and lore of poisons; Newton's Notebooks, on the life and discoveries of Isaac Newton; Phobiapedia, an encyclopaedia of the things that scare us most; and A Bee in a Cathedral, exploring analogies and thought experiments in science, nature and technology.
Content
Splitting the Atom * Explorers of New Worlds * Louis Slotin and the Demon Core * the Town That Wasn't There * Spoilt Milk * Burning Up * the Wrong-shaped Bottle * a Slip of the Hand * Broken Arrow * Human Error * Don't Rock the Boat * Nuclear Nightmare * Concentration Critical * the Four Horsemen * the Nyonoska Mystery.