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Nuclear energy
Ann. Nucl. Energy,Vol. 21, No. 9, p. 583, 1994 Copyright© 1994ElsevierScienceLtd Printed in Great Britain.All rights reserved 0306-4549/94 $7.00+ 0.00
Pergamon
BOOK REVIEW Nuclear Energy by RAYMOND L. MURRAY Fourth Edition, Pergamon Press, ISBN 0-08042126-1/042125-3. The first edition of this general introductory text was issued in 1976. The author was at that time Head of the Nuclear Engineering Department at North Carolina State, which (if my graduate years' memory does not play me tricks) he helped to found in the midfifties. The Department continues strongly today, with Ray a welcome Professor Emeritus. Taking up the present text is indeed like revisiting an old friend. The book continues with its sub-title An Introduction to the Concepts, Systems, and Applications of Nuclear Processes. In some 400 pages, the author devotes perhaps one-half to the conventional aspect of nuclear power engineering. This starts with a review of fundamental nuclear physics and health physics before the fission process and its technical exploitation are developed. Considerable cover is given to U.S. practice, principally pressurised water reactors, but an informed view is taken over the world scene, not least in the Eastern Europe and CIS countries (old U.S.S.R.). The discussion is extended to world politics and the control of nuclear weapons as well as a discussion of major accidents that, as Professor Murray acknowledges, have been a contributor to the ills of the Nuclear Industry in the United States (and, I hasten to add, elsewhere). I consider the selection of world data to be excellent for the author's purpose. But the book is not solely about the production of electricity from nuclear means, fission and fusion. It covers many of the applications of nuclear science
and technology to the wider benefit of mankind, as in radiation detection and applications. Major topics covered after basic concepts are: nuclear reactors, accelerator systems; radiation detectors and uses in industry; nuclear economics and nuclear regulation; the past and the future. A pleasing feature of this fourth edition is the availability of teaching programs from the author to supplement the student exercises and problems, as well as answers for the instructor. Nuclear Energy is generally well produced, as it should be in a fourth edition. There are however some irritating printing errors (p. 110 lacks an = ; p. 123 has whle for while, the lack of space between the figures and symbol for degree Celsius, etc.) A more personal criticism is of the author's reluctance to adopt SI Units and their symbols wholeheartedly (e.g. s not sec), explained away by saying that the older abbreviations are better known. Of course, and they will continue to be better known if academic author's of Raymond Murray's repute do not lead the way in their adoption. The book's style is expository with small demand for mathematical ability. Correspondingly few derivations are carried through from first principles. It will continue to be useful in many Departments of Nuclear Engineering (and for optional courses in other Engineering and Technology Colleges) where the teaching is in English or for private study, at an introductory and undergraduate level.
Magdalene College Cambridge CB3 0A G U.K.
J. D. LEWINS
Pergamon
BOOK REVIEW Nuclear Energy by RAYMOND L. MURRAY Fourth Edition, Pergamon Press, ISBN 0-08042126-1/042125-3. The first edition of this general introductory text was issued in 1976. The author was at that time Head of the Nuclear Engineering Department at North Carolina State, which (if my graduate years' memory does not play me tricks) he helped to found in the midfifties. The Department continues strongly today, with Ray a welcome Professor Emeritus. Taking up the present text is indeed like revisiting an old friend. The book continues with its sub-title An Introduction to the Concepts, Systems, and Applications of Nuclear Processes. In some 400 pages, the author devotes perhaps one-half to the conventional aspect of nuclear power engineering. This starts with a review of fundamental nuclear physics and health physics before the fission process and its technical exploitation are developed. Considerable cover is given to U.S. practice, principally pressurised water reactors, but an informed view is taken over the world scene, not least in the Eastern Europe and CIS countries (old U.S.S.R.). The discussion is extended to world politics and the control of nuclear weapons as well as a discussion of major accidents that, as Professor Murray acknowledges, have been a contributor to the ills of the Nuclear Industry in the United States (and, I hasten to add, elsewhere). I consider the selection of world data to be excellent for the author's purpose. But the book is not solely about the production of electricity from nuclear means, fission and fusion. It covers many of the applications of nuclear science
and technology to the wider benefit of mankind, as in radiation detection and applications. Major topics covered after basic concepts are: nuclear reactors, accelerator systems; radiation detectors and uses in industry; nuclear economics and nuclear regulation; the past and the future. A pleasing feature of this fourth edition is the availability of teaching programs from the author to supplement the student exercises and problems, as well as answers for the instructor. Nuclear Energy is generally well produced, as it should be in a fourth edition. There are however some irritating printing errors (p. 110 lacks an = ; p. 123 has whle for while, the lack of space between the figures and symbol for degree Celsius, etc.) A more personal criticism is of the author's reluctance to adopt SI Units and their symbols wholeheartedly (e.g. s not sec), explained away by saying that the older abbreviations are better known. Of course, and they will continue to be better known if academic author's of Raymond Murray's repute do not lead the way in their adoption. The book's style is expository with small demand for mathematical ability. Correspondingly few derivations are carried through from first principles. It will continue to be useful in many Departments of Nuclear Engineering (and for optional courses in other Engineering and Technology Colleges) where the teaching is in English or for private study, at an introductory and undergraduate level.
Magdalene College Cambridge CB3 0A G U.K.
J. D. LEWINS