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J. Samuel Walker has been highly influential in the debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Three Mile Island accident, and in the current debate on high level nuclear waste disposal. This article describes the three major books which established his notability in these debates and lists some of his lesser known writings.

Debate on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Prompt and Utter Destruction
J. Samuel Walker. Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. ix + 142 pp. $16.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8078-4662-9; $34.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8078-2361-3.

This writing on the atomic bombing of Japah has attracted critical acclaim, for instance, from Roger Chapman, writing in Bowling Green's university press. Chapman characterized the book as "a brave attempt to bridge two diametrically opposed positions{one sidestating that the bombings were militarily necessary for ending the war and the other claiming that the bombings were an unjusti�ed and inhumane show of American military force for the purpose of intimidating the Soviet Union. Walker took a distinct position in the controversial debate on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. David Hendrickson, writing in Foreign Affairs, stated that Prompt and Utter Destruction "acknowledges that some officials saw diplomatic benefits vis-a-vis the Soviets from the use of the bomb but insists that such motivations were of decidedly secondary importance."

Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective
He also authored the first comprehensive review of Three Mile Island, Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective (2006). This title was highly regard by critics. When the accident took place, he was in process to be hired at the NRC and with this publication established his reputation at that institution. According to his own account, Walker's achievement lay in part in debunking of "grievous misconstructions [which]were portrayals of the bubble issue that were central features of at least two books that came out shortly after the accident (in 1982) and in three television programs..." Walker disputed the alleged imminence of an explosion, and with this disputation defended the NRC, the nuclear industry from spiraling criticism which nevertheless continued to erode the popularity and economic vitality of the nuclear industry during that period of its history. A central point of his argument was that if the situation was as dangerous as previous writers contended, that Jimmy Carter would not have been permitted to visit the TMI power plant.

Nuclear Waste: The Road to Yucca Mountain
The Road to Yucca Mountain The Development of Radioactive Waste Policy in the United States University of California Press, 2009 Hardcover, 240 pages ISBN 9780520260450

His latest book is This title was awarded the Richard W. Leopold Prize, awarded by the Organization of American Historians. In this title, he cover the U.S. government's controversial attempts to address the engineering and social issues associated with high-level radioactive waste repository (HLRWR) management and spent reactor fuel (SRF). He starts with the Manhattan Project and works through the twists and turns of policy debate. In 1987 Yucca Mountain, Nevada emerged as the most likely candidate for a repository. He explicates the AEC's flop with its first attempt to build a HLRWR in a Kansas salt mine. Deep geological disposal and surface storage of HLRW and SRF as well as fuel reprocessing.

In addition to these writings, he reviews for military and other publications, and does not refrain from acerbic criticism. (citation pending)

A Selected Bibiography of Lesser Publications
Walker, J. Samuel. Containing the Atom: Nuclear Regulation in a Changing [truncated at source]

"The Perils of Patriotism" published by Lancaster County Bicentennial Committee in 1975. At that time, Walker was an instructor in American History at the University of Maryland when "Perils of Patriotism".

"Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century" University of California Press, 2000

Documenting Three Mile Island Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 18 March 2009

Enola Gay and the Court of History. By Robert P. Newman (Review)

Sources of Additional Information
http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/documenting-three-mile-island