Too Hot to Touch

William and Rosemarie Alley are a husband and wife team, writing for the general public on Earth science issues confronting society. As a leading expert in the field of hydrogeology, Dr William M. Alley has won numerous awards for his work, including the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Shoemaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication and the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award. Dr Alley served as Chief of the Office of Groundwater for the USGS for almost two decades and oversaw the Yucca Mountain Project from 2002 to 2010. Rosemarie Alley has a Master's degree in special education. As a literacy specialist, she has taught young adults with language delays and conducted numerous reading workshops for teachers, administrators and parents.

• Acknowledgements; List of units; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. The Problem: 1. The awakening; 2. Brainstorming; 3. The ocean as a dumping ground; 4. Radioactivity and atomic energy; 5. The Cold War legacy; 6. The peaceful atom and its wastes; 7. Recycling; 8. Dry cask storage; 9. Interim storage; 10. A can of worms; 11. WIPP; Part II. The Mountain: 12. The search for a geologic repository; 13. Nevada wins the lottery; 14. The Nevada test site; 15. Yucca mountain; 16. How long is long?; 17. Leaving almost no stone unturned; 18. Surprise; 19. Shake and bake; 20. The project gets into hot water; Part III. No Solution in Sight: 21. A new president, new policies; 22. Nuclear waste and our energy future; Appendix: discussion questions; References; Index.

'… a very thorough overview of the nuclear waste issue. The book is level-headed, in-depth, and logical … Too Hot to Touch … [is] more about the fight between politics, science, stupidity and apathy (and bribery). But one of the problems with managing nuclear waste is the scope of the problem. [It] makes it clear that there are no good solutions to the problem of nuclear waste.' Media with Conscience (mwcnews.net)