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4.5
Looking head-on at oil depletion combined with soaring coal use, and the inevitable economic need for advanced nuclear energy, Dr. Eerkens provides a technological-literary masterpiece. One of the special qualities of "The Nuclear Imperative" is the combination of readable, accessible material, ample graphs and charts, along with a debate-worthy writing style. Instead of just advocating for a certain reform or new energy program and leaving others to work out the details as some do, Dr. Eerkens actually shows a methodical pathway, and all its major elements, to reach the goal of sustainable energy security. The chapters are each knowledge-rich, and while they logically follow each other, the nuclear energy savvy reader can also use chapters of this book practically as a "concise encyclopedia."The "Imperative" part of this book title also bears attention. There are economic, moral, and political imperatives and forces driving the "Nuclear Imperative." Yet, like a moral imperative, there is choice involved for leaders, parliaments, and societies. Dr. Eerkens urges readers and their elected officials to make a choice, to work with existing wealth from oil while Western and free societies are still economically strong.As for the saying "great minds think alike," the Nobel Laureate physics Prof. Robert Laughlin reaches nearly identical conclusions -- about nuclear energy and oil depletion -- in his book "Powering the Future." One key difference is that Prof. Laughlin thinks it is highly likely for the free market and private industry to build-out a significant nuclear energy system, but I interpret Dr. Eerkens as calling mainly for government planning and international cooperation, along with a role for the free market. Since Dr. Eerkens sees the long planning and construction times for nuclear energy, he aims for nuclear energy to rise to a majority power source as oil depletion reaches its steepest phase. Prof. Laughlin suggests the nuclear build-out will happen after high oil and coal prices become permanent, since he believes that consumers and industries will insist on the lowest price per kilowatt hour.Dr. Eerkens raises the very real concern (which is raised in almost exactly the same way by James Lovelock in The Vanishing Face of Gaia), that nuclear energy power stations are so expensive and of such long-range value that planning and construction is urgently needed, so by the time society desperately needs affordable clean baseload power, it will be here already. From a future society's viewpoint around 2030, it would be just in time.
