AW: AW: AW: [ RadSafe ] Chernobyls Reduced Impact

[John Jacobus]

Barbara,
Very good points. I would add that laws and
regulations are not made on technology alone. They are
based on what people, though their representative,
want. Look at the recently passed Energy Bill and
Highway Bill.
--- BLHamrick at aol.com <BLHamrick at aol.com> wrote:
>  
> In a message dated 9/18/2005 8:23:43 A.M. Pacific
Standard Time,  
> crispy_bird at yahoo.com writes:
> 
> <<Of course, the real point is whether or not these
> protest  will affect regulations. The policy of the
NRC
> and other Federal agencies  is to allow for public
> participation. We may not like hearing about  the
> protests, but that is how our society  works.>>
> 
> 
> 
> It did affect the regulations in the case of the
Control of Solid  Materials. 
>  The Commission then chose to reject the rulemaking
proposed by  staff, and 
> go back to business as usual (i.e., releases that
are defined through  license 
> condition, not rulemaking).  It has affected a lot
of policy and  rulemaking, 
> and while I agree that public participation is
important, letting an  
> uninformed majority (i.e., the squeaky wheels)
influence technical regulation  does 
> not in the end serve the public at large.  A good
regulatory framework  should 
> not simply "take a vote" on whether or not a
technical standard is  appropriate.
>  
> Barbara


+++++++++++++++++++
"Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea and never shrinks back to its original proportion." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com


	
		
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