Outreach: Santa Fe
Fall 2005 Tecolote Information
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Tecolote Description
Radiance of a Thousand Suns: The Hope and Peril of Atomic Energy
Tecolote Colloquium, Fall 2005
The discovery of atomic energy is, hands down, man’s most significant and far-reaching accomplishment. It gives the human race power on a scale hardly imaginable to even the distinguished scientists who discovered it. The atom bomb, the first practical application of this new knowledge, has irrevocably changed how we must consider the fundamental questions of government, war, nationalism, and world order. It has raised the stakes of moral responsibility. Though mankind has managed to survive the first sixty years of the nuclear age, it is not clear that we can survive it indefinitely. Nor is it clear what measures will prove adequate for the continuing existence of the human race in a world where nuclear weapons are globally proliferating and where many remain on near hair-trigger alert.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the fear that clouded the world during the cold-war era has largely cleared. The specter of nuclear destruction, however, remains. Some of the specific concerns have taken new shape. It is as important today as it has ever been for people to give careful thought to the imperative questions of nuclear energy. For this reason, the Tecolote curriculum is dedicated to an exploration of the hope and peril of nuclear energy. Tecolote believes tndividuals who are well-informed and thoughtful about the atom and its power are better able to address this great set of challenges.
The concerns nuclear energy raises are not the exclusive domain of the physicist, the historian or the social scientist. Our program will work with materials that present the basic scientific facts and questions of the uses of nuclear energy in layman’s terms.
The “tutorial” readings will look at basic concepts of physics: What is energy? What is an atom? How are nuclear reactions possible? How do atom bombs and nuclear generators work?
The “seminar” material covers the broader issues surrounding nuclear energy. We will begin with a selection from Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Seminar discussions will address the basic approaches to peace in the nuclear age and the arguments for and against widespread use of nuclear power generation.
Tecolote’s approach is non-partisan. Our effort is to present the facts and open the issues for thoughtful and responsible discussion.
Tecolote Curriculum
Seminar: The political, historical, moral, and philosophical dimensions of nuclear energy.
I. The First Atomic Bomb:
Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Chap. 19, “Tongues of Fire”
II. Early Approaches to Nuclear Security:
Rhodes, Makingof the Atomic Bomb, “Epilogue.”
III. The Present form of the Nuclear Threat:
Caldwell & Williams, Seeking Security in an Insecure World, Chapters 3 & 5
IV. Nuclear Power Generation:
- Richard Rhodes, “The Need for Nuclear Power” based on an article that first appeared in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2000
- Thomas B. Cochran, “The Future Role of Nuclear Power in the United States,”
(Natural Resources Defense Council) presented 4/15/04 at Western Governors’ Association Summit
Tutorial: Short readings on technical topics to help a lay audience understand the fundamentals of nuclear energy.
I. The Atom
1. Modified textbook account of the atom and the nucleus.
2. Niels Bohr, excerpt from 1922 Nobel Prize address.
II. Energy
E=mc 2 with notes and comments.
Binding energy in chemical and nuclear reactions.
III. Fission and Chain Reaction
IV. Nuclear Generators and Atomic Bombs
(under construction)
Tutorial Guidelines
Our work in the tutorials will be to discuss and come to some understanding of the basic concepts and vocabulary of nuclear energy. We will emphasize the central metaphors that guided the scientists themselves and avoid sophisticated mathematical formulations.
The subject matter this year requires that we modify the approach of the tutorials. Our overall objective is to help participants acquire a very basic familiarity with atomic energy. In four hour and a half sessions it is impossible to achieve much depth. It is possible, however, to establish several basic points and get them right (without, of course, destroying the sense of paradox and mystery that these concepts entail). We are attempting, among other things, to demonstrate that knowledge about science is not an “either-or” matter: a matter of either understanding it deeply all the way down to the basic principles or not knowing it at all. Our effort is to show that it is possible to have some grasp of important matters in science that will both 1) allow us to approach political and moral questions in an informed manner and 2) provide a suitable framework for further study.
An initial problem that we must address head-on is the fact that some of the participants will be quite comfortable with the scientific idiom, while a good many others will be uncomfortable and even terrified by it. We must enlist the support of the first group and the confidence of the second. It is important that the more scientifically oriented participants make sure that they are not talking through or above the others and that they are not monopolizing the conversation. It is important for everyone to ask questions and speak up about how well the conversation is helping (or not helping) them understand the material.
Tecolote Reading List
“Seminar” readings
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes
Chapter 19 and Epilogue
Available for purchase at the St. John’s College Bookstore 984-6056
(A limited number of copies may be found at the Santa Fe Public Library)
“The Need for Nuclear Power,” by Richard Rhodes and Denis Beller
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull422/article8.pdf
Based on an article first published in Foreign Affairs, Volume 79, No. 1 (Jan/Feb 2000)
“The Future Role of Nuclear Power in the United States,” by Thomas B. Cochran
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/pnucpwr.asp
Presented to the Western Governors’ Association North American Energy Summit, April 15, 2004.
Seeking Security in an Insecure World, by Dan Caldwell and Robert E. Williams, Jr.
Chapters 3 and 5
This book may be purchased directly from the publishers, Rowman & Littlefield.
RowmanLittlefield.com
“Tutorial” readings (Basic Overviews, available as pdfs)
Periodic Table
The Atom (Adobe PDF, 3.5 MB)
Energy (Adobe PDF, 1 MB)
Fission and Chain Reaction (Adobe PDF, 3 MB)
Practical Applications of Nuclear Energy (Adobe PDF, 5 MB)
Supplemental Material
“The Baruch Plan,” by Bernard Baruch
Presented to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, June 14, 1946.
Full Transcript (NuclearFiles.org): http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/arms-control-disarmament/baruch-plan_1946-06-14.htm
Explanation (Wikipedia.org): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Plan
United Nations Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968)
Full Text (United Nations):http://disarmament2.un.org/wmd/npt/npttext.html
Explanation (Wikipedia.org): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-proliferation_Treaty
“Apocalypse Soon,” by Robert McNamara.
Why American nukes are immoral, illegal, and dreadfully dangerous
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2829
Published in Foreign Policy (May/June 2005)
“That Famous Equation and You,” by Brian Greene.
E=mc 2 turns 100
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/greene05/greene05_index.html
First published as an Op-Ed Page article in The New York Times on 9/30/05
Universal Compliance: A Strategy for Nuclear Security, by George Perkovich, Jessica T. Mathews, Joseph Cirincione, Rose Gottemoeller, and Jon B. Wolfsthal
Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
2-page overview: http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/user/UniversalComplianceSummary.pdf
Full text: http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/user/UniversalCompliance.pdf
Paperback versions are available at no charge through the Carnegie Endowment: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/strategy
“Options Available to the US to Counter a Nuclear Iran”, by George Perkovich
Testimony by George Perkovich before the House Armed Services Committee (Feb 1, 2006)
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17967&prog=zgp&proj=znpp,zusr