Physicist/engineer James Mahaffey has written a number of books. His main three are Atomic Awakening: A New Look at the History and Future of Nuclear Power (2009); Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters from the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima (2014); and Atomic Adventures: Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder—A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science (2017). In a field exhibiting plenty of turgid or technical prose, Mahaffey’s language sparkles. No matter whether you agree or not with the following, it is fun to read.
Twisting the conventional wisdom, the safest reactor design appeared to be none other than Hyman Rickover’s PWR, as installed in his by-now famous nuclear submarines. It was the most complicated reactor design in existence, built with expensive fuel, exotic materials, hundreds of moving parts, and thousands of beautiful, perfectly executed welds. Rickover was a driven, demanding, crazy son-of-a-bitch who insisted not only on thorough training of anyone allowed to get near his reactors, but on psychological testing as well. It all seemed extreme, but it worked. His reactors operated perfectly and never harmed anyone, but they were hardly practical in a mid-twentieth-century industrial sense. Industry was used to finding cheaper ways to conduct business, and not to find the most exotic and expensive solution for every problem.
Mahaffey, James. 2009. Atomic Awakening: A New Look at the History and Future of Nuclear Power. Pegasus Books, New York, p. 260.
