Nuclear Implosions: The Rise and Fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System Reprint Edition

“This masterful and beautifully written book integrates many different stories: of the disastrous nationwide mistake during the 1960s in overestimating the future demand for electricity; of the ‘Greed Decade’ of the 1980s; of the extreme difficulty of building consensus on public projects among diverse constituencies–business, labor, and governments at all levels; and, above all, of the perils of nuclear power plants. Daniel Pope’s triumph is to fuse all of these topics–each daunting in itself–into a dramatic narrative that turns what appears to be a local story of the Pacific Northwest into a parable of universal significance. As the desperate worldwide quest for ‘clean’ energy moves policymakers once more toward nuclear power, Pope’s meticulously researched account (he leaves no stone unturned) becomes a cautionary tale of both national and international significance.”
-Tom McCraw, Straus Professor of Business History Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history

“Professor Pope’s superb book tells the important story of how an entire region was seduced by the promise of cheap, abundant electricity from nuclear power plants, only to watch the promise steadily unravel into a morass of mismanagement, bad decisions, and billions of dollars of public debt. The history of the nuclear gamble in the Pacific Northwest is an important story for that region, where electricity ratepayers continue to pay off bonds that were sold for plants that were never built. But it is even more important for the rest of the country. Over the next half century, nuclear energy will be offered up as a seductive path away from the nation’s dependence on the fossil fuel energy system. Prof. Pope’s book is a warning as to how dangerous that path may be if we fail to heed the mistakes of the past.”
-John Shurts, General Counsel, Northwest Power and Conservation Council

“Pope informs his narrative with well-documented references…” -Julie Cohn, H-Energy