The Fall and Rise of Nuclear Power in Britain

Author: Simon Taylor
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1906860726
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The story of the rise, fall and second ascendancy of nuclear power in the United Kingdom. Britain was a pioneer in civil nuclear power and there were once high hopes in the 1950s that this could be a source of cheap electricity and a valuable export opportunity. In The Fall and Rise of Nuclear Power in Britain, Simon Taylor examines why these hopes were never realised, and how we have come to see a new rise in nuclear power in recent years. He traces the UK's nuclear energy history, from the optimism of the 1950s, through the disillusionment of the 1980s, to a new role for nuclear in the 21st century. The construction of Britain's first new nuclear power station in 20 years, Hinkley Point C, marks a major change of policy. Throughout this book, Taylor provides a comprehensive overview of energy policy, economics, politics and changing environmental priorities, keying into debates about the generation and sustainability of this controversial energy source. Will this new nuclear energy turn out to be a heroic story of UK leadership on a matter of global importance, or will it prove a hugely costly folly, as with British nuclear power in the past?

Britain, Europe and Civil Nuclear Energy, 1945–62

Author: Martin Theaker
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319739271
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
This book examines the role played by civil nuclear energy in Britain’s relationship with Europe between the end of the Second World War and London’s first application to join the European Communities. Tracing the development of the British nuclear programme as it emerged as a global leader in constructing the world’s first atomic power stations, it analyses how the threat of energy shortages throughout the 1950s presented ministers with a golden opportunity to utilise nuclear cooperation as an instrument to influence the political shape of Europe. Importantly, this book will show how this chance was missed by ministers due to a combination of disorganization and diplomatic pressure, as well as a perennial lack of domestic resources. In so doing, this book joins the long-disconnected historiographies of European integration and nuclear energy to offer a new perspective on both scholarly fields.

The Future of the Nuclear Industry in the North West

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: North West Regional Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215553317
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
future of the nuclear industry in the North West : Oral and written Evidence

The Tolerability of Risk from Nuclear Power Stations

Author: Great Britain. Health and Safety Executive
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health risk assessment
Languages : en
Pages : 70

Book Description
This document replaces the statement and proposals made in the discussion document Tolerability of Risk form Nuclear Power Stations published in 1988. It represents a revision of the earlier document in the light of comments received and of the discussion on the document during the Hinkley Point Inquiry and in the Inquiry report.

Winds of Change

Author: Peter Hennessy
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 1846147247
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Book Description
Following Never Again and Having It So Good, the third part of Peter Hennessy's celebrated Post-War Trilogy 'By far the best study of early Sixties Britain ... so much fun, yet still shrewd and important' The Times, Books of the Year Harold Macmillan famously said in 1960 that the wind of change was blowing over Africa and the remaining British Empire. But it was blowing over Britain too - its society; its relationship with Europe; its nuclear and defence policy. And where it was not blowing hard enough - the United Kingdom's economy - great efforts were made to sweep away the cobwebs of old industrial practices and poor labour relations. Life was lived in the knowledge that it could end in a single afternoon of thermonuclear exchange if the uneasy, armed peace of the Cold War tipped into a Third World War. In Winds of Change we see Macmillan gradually working out his 'grand design' - how to be part of both a tight transatlantic alliance and Europe, dealing with his fellow geostrategists Kennedy and de Gaulle. The centre of the book is 1963 - the year of the Profumo Crisis, the Great Train Robbery, the satire boom, de Gaulle's veto of Britain's first application to join the EEC, the fall of Macmillan and the unexpected succession to the premiership of Alec Douglas-Home. Then, in 1964, the battle of what Hennessy calls the tweedy aristocrat and the tweedy meritocrat - Harold Wilson, who would end 13 years of Conservative rule and usher in a new era. As in his acclaimed histories of British life in the two previous decades, Never Again and Having it so Good, Peter Hennessy explains the political, economic, cultural and social aspects of a nation with inimitable wit and empathy. No historian knows the by-ways as well the highways of the archives so well, and no one conveys the flavour of the period so engagingly. The early sixties live again in these pages.

Britain since 1945

Author: David Childs
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136322655
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 592

Book Description
Britain since 1945 is the established textbook on contemporary British political history since the end of the Second World War. David Childs' authoritative chronological survey discusses domestic policy and politics in particular, but also covers external and international relations. This new and improved seventh edition of this important book brings the picture to the present by including the following additions: Tony Blair's resignation and Gordon Brown's accession to power immigration the financial crisis from 2007: the first bank run in Britain since 1866 the 'Special-relationship' with the US and Obama the 2010 General elcetion and the first coalition government since 1945 'Broken Britain' and Crime the era of ‘owned by China' and Britain’s place in a turbulent world. Britain since 1945 is essential reading for any student of contemporary British history and politics.

How the Railways Will Fix the Future

Author: Gareth Dennis
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
ISBN: 1915672503
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
Railway engineer and transport policy specialist Gareth Dennis shows why the railways are key to the fight for a better world for us all. The world's railways were almost entirely created by capital and empire for extraction and exploitation, so what right do they have to exist and how can they be harnessed for good? Railway engineer and writer Gareth Dennis builds a case not simply for railways as a common good, but argues that railways are a critical tool for humanity to survive and thrive. Whether it's the power of organised labour, the threats and opportunities of new technology, the distribution of democratic power or the calamitous impacts of climate change, railways can act as a lens through which to understand the future and the part they can play in it. Dennis takes us across the globe, from Virgin Hyperloop's abandoned test track in the Nevada desert to the overcrowded stations of the North of England, exploring how railways can shape and inform choices about our future, and in turn detailing how taking a long-term view can help shape transport for the better. With his deep knowledge of railways and his unique view of history and politics, he equips us with the tools to answer those imperative questions: what and who should our railways be for?

Great Britain's Railways

Author: Colin Maggs
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445670305
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 459

Book Description
Explore a highly illustrated and comprehensive look at the story of 400 years of Britain's railways.

Science Policy Under Thatcher

Author: Jon Agar
Publisher: UCL Press
ISBN: 1787353419
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
Margaret Thatcher was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, during which time her Conservative administration transformed the political landscape of Britain. Science Policy under Thatcher is the first book to examine systematically the interplay of science and government under her leadership. Thatcher was a working scientist before she became a professional politician, and she maintained a close watch on science matters as prime minister. Scientific knowledge and advice were important to many urgent issues of the 1980s, from late Cold War questions of defence to emerging environmental problems such as acid rain and climate change. Drawing on newly released primary sources, Jon Agar explores how Thatcher worked with and occasionally against the structures of scientific advice, as the scientific aspects of such issues were balanced or conflicted with other demands and values. To what extent, for example, was the freedom of the individual scientist to choose research projects balanced against the desire to secure more commercial applications? What was Thatcher’s stance towards European scientific collaboration and commitments? How did cuts in public expenditure affect the publicly funded research and teaching of universities? In weaving together numerous topics, including AIDS and bioethics, the nuclear industry and strategic defence, Agar adds to the picture we have of Thatcher and her radically Conservative agenda, and argues that the science policy devised under her leadership, not least in relation to industrial strategy, had a prolonged influence on the culture of British science.

Britain 1750 to 1900

Author: John Child
Publisher: Heinemann
ISBN: 9780435312930
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 104

Book Description
Documents the economic and social history of Great Britain from 1750, through the industrial and agricultural revolutions to 1900. Suggested level: intermediate, secondary.