In the face of climate change and oil shortages, nuclear technology offers many important possibilities. Separating myth from reality, Half-Lives evaluates the promise of nuclear technology as a source of clean energy, as well as the wide range of applications in medicine and industry it offers in a uniquely Canadian context.
Without math or complicated science, Half-Lives explains the fundamentals of nuclear reactions and radioactivity. The uses of nuclear technology in Canada are explored in clear, accessible language, from uranium mining to electricity-producing nuclear power reactors (including the Canadian-designed CANDU reactor), to nuclear medicine and industrial applications. Accentuated with photographs, text boxes, short biographies of key scientists, diagrams, two appendices, and a glossary, this book will also have an important role as a key reference tool.
First published in 2002, Half-Lives remains the only book to consider nuclear technology from a Canadian perspective; this new edition updates the issues in light of industry developments, politics, and environmental crisis.