Atomic accidents
by James A. Mahaffey · first published 2014
85% recommend15% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Engaging, often darkly funny history of nuclear accidents, from early research mishaps to Fukushima, told from an engineering view by a nuclear engineer; accessible to laypeople and fair-minded on nuclear power.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A researcher and nuclear energy advocate describes a number of nuclear mishaps, analyzing what happened and why and explains how each of these accidents have furthered the study of the atom and nuclear energy.
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Weird! I just saw this mentioned in Joe Scott's recent video on Nuclear Waste[1] I hope it's successful as I feel nuclear fission power has been unfairly maligned. I strongly recommend the book Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey[2] to learn more about how fission power plants work and what went wrong at Chernobyl etc. - it's one of my favourite books of all-time. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96et8ZGsxJY&t=545s…
on “Oklo has a plan to make tiny nuclear reactors that run off nuclear waste” ↗…production.[1] I also just really don't like the misinformation that surrounds nuclear energy. I majored in Physics and it's just irritating to see people so confident in their ignorance. I recommend the book "Atomic Accidents"[2] as an excellent book on the dangers of nuclear power and nuclear power plant engineering in general. [1] https://fullfact.org/environment/scotland-renewable-energy/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-...
on “Europe Is Losing Nuclear Power Just When It Needs Energy” ↗"Atomic Accidents" by James Mahaffey is an entire book of essentially criticality accidents. Well worth reading and entertaining in an often sick way.
on “Safety lapses hobble Los Alamos National Lab’s work on U.S. nuclear warheads” ↗This accident, along with quite a few others, is covered in the excellent book: Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima by James Mahaffey: http://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-M... Edit: The book is no way anti-nuclear…
on “Windscale Piles: Cockcroft's Follies avoided nuclear disaster” ↗I felt a bit of that sentiment, but it didn't seem ham-handed. If you are interested in reading about nuclear accidents and the things we can learn from them, I highly suggest Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20820098-atomic-accident...). He's pro-nuclear, but acknowledges that there are still things to learn about safe containment. His focus is mainly,…
on “Fukushima” ↗…highly radioactive water all over the place, and then the fuel rod catches on fire because it's not being cooled anymore. It's comical how quickly these disasters escalate. Read https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-... , it's accurate and relatively fun given the subject. One of the chapters is titled "The US Government almost never lost nuclear weapons", which I find subtly amusing.
on “The U.S. Army tried portable nuclear power at remote bases 60 years ago” ↗I can recommend Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima by James Mahaffey - it has a chapter on Chernobyl and goes into a fair amount of details: http://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-M...
on “Chernobyl’s Hot Mess, “the Elephant’s Foot,” Is Still Lethal (2013)” ↗Sort of related to this post; I recently read Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima [0]. I was not expecting much from the book, but it turned out to be FANTASTIC, would highly recommend if you have…
on “The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples” ↗This is my favorite book on the state of atomic energy: http://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-M.... The book looks at the history of atomic accidents from an engineering perspective right up to Fukushima. The author is a nuclear engineer and understands the systems he talks…
on “America's newest nuclear plant shows why nuclear power is dying in the U.S” ↗Or Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey - this is a great book https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-...
on “Nuclear Plant Accidents: Sodium Reactor Experiment” ↗$1+ Science and Philosophy - Alfred North Whitehead The Genome - Sergei Lukyyaneko Mind: A Unified Theory of Life and Intelligence - Frank T. Vertosick Jr. On Shaky Ground - John J. Nance Atomic Accidents - Jim Mahaffey Martian Summer - Andrew Kessler The Goldilock's Enigma - Paul Davies Water: The Fate of our Most Precious Resource - Marq de Villiers $8+ In the beginning... - Issac Asimov Absolute…
on “Science and Non-Fiction Humble Bundle” ↗James Mahaffey's "Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima" is also worth reading - the scope is broader. It covers a period where research reactors were decommissioned explosively…
on “A Burning B-52 Nearly Caused A Nuclear Catastrophe” ↗…be building more nuclear plants with smaller reactors for this reason as well as smaller reactors being easier to operate without getting into a dangerous state. As far as reading, I highly recommend Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey [0]. It's very well written, aimed at a total layman, and covers basically everything that has gone wrong since we as a species started seriously messing with nuclear materials in the…
on “Fire extinguished at Ukraine nuclear power plant, Europe's largest” ↗...and for some lighter reading, anything by James Mahaffey, in particular the "Atomic Accidents". Both insightful - and bizzarely entertaining to read.
on “Daniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked The Pentagon Papers, Is Dead at 92” ↗…time it was made, and something like the Chernobyl incident can't happen on anything newer. A study found statistically insignificant rises in cancer rates from the 3 Mile incident. I recommend the book Atomic Accidents, it's very informative and I believe it went over specifically why a nuclear plant can't just explode like an atom bomb or even really help you make one.
on “Out of all major energy sources, nuclear is the safest” ↗