[ RadSafe ] The Plowshare program got a "bum rap"

Tue May 28 20:27:11 CDT 2013

I was priveledged to work in the Plowshare program at LLNL. By far, per unit 
mass, nuclear exlopsives are the cheapest way of excavating and/or moving 
earth for costruction of navigable canals, highways, etc. Contained underground 
applications included freeing hyrocarbon resources, and storage of gasses and 
liquids, including wastes from nuclear power plants. There was much excellent 
science done in the program which, for security reasons cannot be discussed. Of 
course, the big scare tactic used by program opponents was the potential for 
radiation exposure to the public. If it were possible to reveal, it would be 
surprising how low public exposure levels would have been. Of course, from a 
politiical standpoint, ANY IS TOO MUCH. And so, the program died an untimely 
death.
Too bad----I believe we missed a good bet
Jerry Cohen

With regards to the  Nazi nuclear weapons program, the best book I've read on 
the subject is "Heisenberg's War" - this went a long ways towards convincing me 
that the Nazis (including Hitler) were avidly pursuing nuclear weapons and that 
Heisenberg and other scientists helped delay matters because of their concerns.

With regards to the Plowshares Program, it's easy to scoff today - and some of 
the schemes certainly seem nutty with the benefit of hindsight. But at a time 
when nuclear weapons were viewed as being really big explosives (and lacked the 
emotional and political overtones of today) such plans seemed reasonable - a lot 
of people wanted desperately for something good to come from devices that made 
such horrible weapons. But as we learned more - and as we learned more about the 
health and environmental effects of the things - everyone figured out that the 
cost might be too high.

I'm assuming that the "implanting plutonium into patients' hearts" refers to 
plutonium-powered pacemakers - another idea that seemed to be reasonable at the 
time since it meant that the rudimentary pacemakers of the day wouldn't need 
additional surgery to replace batteries.

To me the question isn't about the soundness (or stupidity) of this work as we 
see it today so much as the intent of those proposing the projects in light of 
what they knew at the time. In the Plowshares Program and the plutonium-powered 
pacemakers I see programs that were well-intentioned based on what we knew at 
the time - I guess we could call them "noble blunders." 

And then there are plenty of other things that are just boneheaded....

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu 
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Helbig
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 4:44 AM
To: RADSAFE
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] New Book: A Short History of NuclearFolly

I really doubt that Nazi scientists knew how to and had the capability to
make an atomic weapon but "chose" not to.  I wonder what other fiction that
Herzog might have buried in this book.  Has anyone had the opportunity to
read it?

Roger Helbig

(see last line of the following news release)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: nuclear-news <comment-reply at wordpress.com>
Date: Sat, May 25, 2013 at 12:53 AM
Subject: [New post] New Book: A Short History of Nuclear Folly
  Christina MacPherson posted: "A Short History of Nuclear
Folly [Hardcover]
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nuclear-Folly/dp/1612191738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369261455&sr=8-1&keywords=short+history+of+nuclear+folly

Release
date: April 30, 2013 In the spirit of Dr."
      New post on *nuclear-news*
<http://nuclear-news.net/author/christinamacpherson/>  New Book: A Short
History of Nuclear
Folly<http://nuclear-news.net/2013/05/25/new-book-a-short-history-of-nuclear-folly/>

by
Christina MacPherson <http://nuclear-news.net/author/christinamacpherson/>

*<http://antinuclearinfo.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/book-nuclear-folly.gif>A
Short History of Nuclear Folly [Hardcover]
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nuclear-Folly/dp/1612191738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369261455&sr=8-1&keywords=short+history+of+nuclear+folly

  *Release date: April 30, 2013
*In the spirit of Dr. Strangelove and The Atomic Café, a blackly sardonic
people's history of atomic blunders and near-misses revealing the hushed-up
and forgotten episodes in which the great powers gambled with
catastrophe* Rudolph
Herzog, the acclaimed author of *Dead Funny*, presents a devastating
account of history's most irresponsible uses of nuclear technology. From
the rarely-discussed nightmare of "Broken Arrows" (40 nuclear weapons lost
during the Cold War) to "Operation Plowshare" (a proposal to use nuclear
bombs for large engineering projects, such as a the construction of a
second Panama Canal using 300 H-Bombs), Herzog focuses in on long-forgotten
nuclear projects that nearly led to disaster.

In an unprecedented people's history, Herzog digs deep into archives,
interviews nuclear scientists, and collects dozens of rare photos. He
explores the "accidental" drop of a Nagasaki-type bomb on a train
conductor's home, the implanting of plutonium into patients' hearts, and
the invention of wild tactical nukes, including weapons designed to kill
enemy astronauts.

Told in a riveting narrative voice, Herzog-the son of filmmaker Werner
Herzog-also draws on childhood memories of the final period of the Cold War
in Germany, the country once seen as the nuclear battleground for NATO and
the Warsaw Pact countries, and discusses evidence that Nazi scientists knew
how to make atomic weaponry . . . and chose not to.
  *Christina MacPherson<http://nuclear-news.net/author/christinamacpherson/>
* | May 25, 2013 at 7:52 am | Categories: resources -
print<http://nuclear-news.net/?cat=12949297>,
Resources -audiovicual <http://nuclear-news.net/?cat=39132860> | URL:
http://wp.me/phgse-d9I

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________________________________

From: "KARAM, PHILIP" <ANDREW.KARAM at nypd.org>
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList 
<radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Sent: Tue, May 28, 2013 5:23:15 AM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] New Book: A Short History of 
NuclearFolly