Reporter's Handbook on Nuclear Materials, Energy & Waste Management

An essential reference for journalists, activists, and students, this book presents scientifically accurate and accessible overviews of 24 of the most important issues in the nuclear realm, including: health effects, nuclear safety and engineering, TMI and Chernobyl, nuclear medicine, food irradiation, transport of nuclear materials, spent fuel, nuclear weapons, global warming.

Each "brief" is based on interviews with named scientists, engineers, or administrators in a nuclear specialty, and each has been reviewed by a team of independent experts. The objective is not to make a case for or against nuclear-related technologies, but rather to provide definitive background information. (The approach is based on that of The Reporter's Environmental Handbook, published in 1988, which won a special award for journalism from the Sigma Delta Chi Society of professional journalists.)

Other features of the book include: a glossary of hundreds of terms, an introduction to risk assessment, environmental and economic impacts, and public perceptions, an article by an experienced reporter with recommendations about how to cover nuclear issues, quick guides to the history of nuclear power in the United States, important federal legislation and regulations, nuclear position statements, and key organizations, print and electronic resources.

Three of the authors (Greenberg, Lowrie, and Mayer) have for more than a decade done nuclear waste research and review work as part of their association with the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation. The authors are also associated with the National Center for Neighborhood and Brownfield Redevelopment at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers. Greenberg also serves as associate editor for environmental health for the American Journal of Public Health and as editor-in-chief of Risk Analysis, where Lowrie serves as managing editor. West is Co-Chair of the Health Systems and Policy Department at UMDNJ School of Public Health.