[ RadSafe ] Scientific Consensus

[Brunkow, Ward]

Bernard,
You bring up some very good issues. As a consultant with 20 years of Nuclear Power experience working for (11) U.S. Utilities before going to DOE arena, I always knew that nuclear energy was the answer just like our dear former President and Supreme Commander Ike Eisenhower did, but felt like a Vietnam Vet coming home from the war the way people reacted to our industry and the treatment I received at times from the public, especially in the early days. We once had a babysitter in California who refused to keep my son when she found out I worked at San Onofre because she thought he probably had radiation in him. My point is that we are decades behind yet in this country educating people in this field. France as an example is not and it remains a mystery to me why our politicians and leaders won't look at the energy dependence success of a countries like France or Japan...and take a hint.  In addition, Hollywood will give Al Gore (ALGOR)  an oscar for his phony work on global warming, and in his case of course you have people following someone who has no expertise whatsoever in a highly technical field. He did invent the internet though and we must remember and appreciate that.....
Regarding the last part of your question, I have been a member of ANS for 25 years. Belonging to other professional organizations in my career to include military officer organizations, I find ANS to be one of the most professional societies I've had the pleasure of being affiliated with. They have impressive membership rolls also of scientists and engineers. They just need to be larger yet, and have larger funding and would help to promote this agenda. You will notice also that most of their agenda these days is the nuclear power generator industry. In my lifetime in this country I have found most of the time that Americans are much like cattle trying to stay out front of a storm. They won't react until it gets pretty bleak...and in some cases will stand there and get struck by lightning.  I am afraid it will probably stay that way for awhile. Meanwhile, our energy dependence could be dramatically impacted and interrupted at any time, any hour. We could wake up most any morning and find our way of life totally upside down. Anything I can do to head this off, I will always help. For now, I will continue to write my politicians and promote clean, safe nuclear energy. 


W. G. (Ward) Brunkow
U.S. DOE WIPP Site - Radiological Engineering
Washington TRU Solutions - Carlsbad, NM 88220
ward.brunkow at wipp.ws / MS-452/06, PO Bx 2078
505-234-8018 Off/ 6062 Fx/ 703-929-1280 Cell

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Bernard L. Cohen
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 11:57 AM
To: RadiatSafety; ANS listserv (E-mail)
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Scientific Consensus

    With so much talk and discussion of what is the scientific consensus 
on global warming, it would be interesting to discuss the scientific 
consensus on whether nuclear power is much less harmful to human health  
than burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. I am sure there would 
be a much stronger scientific consensus on the nuclear power issue, but 
the media and the public assume the contrary..
    How could we document the scientific consensus on nuclear power? We 
could compile endorsements from scientific societies -- does anyone have 
such a compilation? We could take a poll of "knowledgeable scientists"  
-- how best to define that group? Would University employed members of 
Health Physics Society be credible? Is there some other Society with 
more credibility whose members could be polled? Would the National 
Academy of Engineering be appropriate? I would like to poll energy 
specialists on University faculties -- is there a clean way to define these?
    If people would make suggestions on these matters, I would be happy 
to carry out the poll, or be a member of a group that does this or 
oversees it. Better yet, could we get some media people, or well 
recognized pollsters, involved? If a good program could be devised, I 
believe I could find the money to finance it.
    Since the world has discovered the meaning of "scientific 
consensus", maybe we could take advantage of it. Your suggestions would 
be most helpful.

-- 
ÐÏࡱá


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