Reddit mentions of Nuclear Physics: Principles and Applications

My experience with nuclear power comes from an nuclear physics course I took in undergrad.. so the stuff I was reading was not really suitable for a normal audience. We did everything from fission in stars to different types of fuels in nuclear reactions. Fukushima actually happened during my time in that course.

Then later I took nuclear energy for electrical engineers, focusing on the power generation itself. I didn't personally go into energy, and I have some friends who specifically work for power companies who could answer it better than me. But in general, you will have a hard time finding a power engineer that is against nuclear. They've done the math.

My textbook for the more understandable of the two courses was Nuclear Physics: Principles and Applications, which I strongly recommend despite it being an academic approach. A patient laymen would be able to understand the concepts of this book without much effort, however the math may require some outside assistance.

Comparing nuclear to other forms of (non-renewable) energy is really challenging without asking the person to do the math themselves. It's so astonishingly powerful that the first time you do the calculations you do them again because you're convinced no form of energy is that efficient. Well then you say to your professor, but the negatives are huge! I've heard all the news reports! Then you spend some class time going over figures, comparing forms of energy, per capita power, per capita death, and proportional lives lost and Nuclear stands with an INCREDIBLE record of near perfection while the media holds a magnifying glass over tiny scratches. Meanwhile all other forms of non-renewable energy hold a death-toll so high it's not even comparable to nuclear.

Renewable energy loses to nuclear simply because nuclear always works, produces magnitudes more energy, and can ramp up the reaction on the spot in response to an increase in the demand of power.

I hope my rambling has been of some help.. long story short I mostly studied the math and statistics behind it's safety. I haven't read any non-technical books but I'm sure someone here can help you out with a recommendation. Perhaps visit /r/NuclearPower for further reading.

Links you may find interesting:

Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors

MIT Course: Nuclear Plant Safety

General Wiki Info