Part 1: Global warming and energy production
Global climate change : real or myth? ; What is the debate about? ; The IPCC and international conventions ; The greenhouse effect ; Skeptical politicians and pundits ; Skeptical scientists ; Historical temperature and greenhouse gas record ; Last 10,000 years of climate : the Holocene ; Recent changes in temperature and CO2 ; Melting glaciers and rising seas ; Models ; Response to Singer and Avery ; Predictions of future global warming and consequences ; Sea level and acidification ; Global weirding
Where our energy comes from ; A brief history of energy ; Coal ; Oil and natural gas ; Uranium ; How much energy do we use and where does it come from? ; World energy usage ; What can be done to reduce our carbon-intensive energy economy?
The good, bad and ugly of coal and gas ; Coal ; Anatomy of a coal-fired plant ; Carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants ; Mining and health hazards ; How much is there? ; Carbon capture and storage ; Natural gas ; How much is there? ; Greenhouse gas emissions ; Fracking
The siren song of renewable energy ; Solar ; Photovoltaic (PV) solar power ; Concentrated solar power (CSP) ; Solar heating ; Limitations of solar power ; Wind ; Limitations of wind power ; Summary
Back to the future : nuclear power ; Anatomy of a reactor ; Advantages of nuclear power ; Baseload power ; Greenhouse gas emission ; Location and footprint ; Cost ; Subsidies for nuclear and renewables ; Advanced reactor technology ; Can nuclear replace coal? ; Arguments against nuclear power
Part 2: Radiation and its biological effects
The world of the atom ; What is radiation? ; Black body radiation : the quantum ; The nuclear atom ; The quantum atom ; The nucleus ; Radioactivity: decay processes ; Fission ; Summary
How dangerous is radiation? ; Interactions of radiation with matter ; Electromagnetic radiation (photon) interactions ; Charged particle interactions ; Neutron interactions ; What is a dose of radiation? ; Effects of radiation on DNA and cells ; How does radiation cause cancer? ; What are the risks? ; Death from radiation ; Cancer from radiation ; Hereditary effects of radiation ; How bad is plutonium? ; Summary
What comes naturally and not so naturally ; Natural background radiation ; Cosmic radiation ; Primordial terrestrial radiation ; Medical exposure ; How dangerous is background radiation?
Part 3: Risks of nuclear power
Nuclear waste ; What is nuclear waste? ; The long and the short of waste storage ; Yucca mountain ; Waste isolation pilot plant (WIPP) ; Recycling spent nuclear fuel ; Making new fuel from recycled "waste" ; Summary
About those accidents ; The Scare, March 16, 1979 ; Three Mile Island, March 28, 1979 ; How the accident happened ; Consequences of TMI ; Chernobyl, April 26, 1986 ; How the accident happened ; The hazardous radioisotopes ; Health consequences ; Environmental consequences ; A trip to Chernobyl ; Consequences for nuclear power ; Fukushima, March 11, 2011 ; How the accident happened ; Health and environmental consequences ; Consequences for nuclear power ; Public perception of risks from nuclear power
The quest for uranium ; Mining for uranium ; Shinkolobwe ; Shiprock ; Milling ; In situ recovery ; Enrichment ; Fuel fabrication ; World resources of uranium ; Megatons to megawatts ; Is there enough uranium for a nuclear renaissance? ; Breeder reactors ; Thorium ; Summary
Now what? ; Myth 1: Radiation is extremely dangerous and we don't understand it ; Myth 2: There is no solution to the nuclear waste produced by nuclear power ; Myth 3: Nuclear power is unsafe and nuclear accidents have killed hundreds of thousands of people ; Myth 4: Uranium will run out too soon and mining it generates so much carbon dioxide that it loses its carbon-free advantage ; Myth 5: Nuclear power is so expensive it can't survive in the marketplace
Appendix A: Global warming ; Earth's energy balance ; Radiative forcing ; The IPCC special report on emissions scenarios (SRES)
Appendix B: Glossary of terms, definitions and units ; Energy ; Power ; Powers of 10 ; Radioactivity
Appendix C: Glossary of acronyms and abbreviations
Appendix D: Selected Nobel prizes.
