Charles D. Ferguson is President of the Federation of American Scientists and an Adjunct Professor in Georgetown University's Security Studies Program. Trained as a physicist and nuclear engineer, he has worked on nuclear policy issues at the U.S. Department of State and the Council on Foreign Relations.

• Contents ; Preface ; Acknowledgements ; 1. Fundamentals ; What is energy, and what is power? ; Is most energy that people use derived from nuclear energy? ; What is the origin of nuclear energy? ; What is radioactivity? ; Why is ionizing radiation a health concern? ; What is radioactive half-life, and how can knowing it help increase countries' security? ; How much more energetic is nuclear energy compared to chemical energy? ; Why has it been so difficult to commercialize nuclear fusion? ; How was nuclear fission discovered? ; What role, if any, did Albert Einstein play in the discovery of nuclear energy? ; What is a fission chain reaction? ; What is uranium, where did it come from, and how was it discovered? ; What is plutonium, how was it discovered, and how hazardous is it? ; Why can't nuclear reactors explode like a nuclear bomb? ; What is the nuclear fuel cycle? ; Why are certain activities in the nuclear fuel cycle called <"dual-use>"? ; What are the various uranium enrichment methods? ; What are the nuclear

An accessible text with a strong structure that provides a launch pad for further exploration.