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

Tue May 28 21:56:57 CDT 2013

Russians almost started blowing tranches to turn huge Siberian rivers from
North to the South to supply Central Asian desserts.
It was not nuclear issue what stopped it, it was something like rivers are
so huge water body may effect on earth rotation??? doubtful, the second
problem was to take water from the North then North becomes desserts.

Nazi:
1. Story is Hitler was distrustful to the idea of nuclear (science) bomb,
because it was associated with Jewish scientists. When, they finally
started, concept was to make bomb in form of reactor going critical as one
piece or may be it was Japanese concept? They were satellites, so they
shared info anyway.

On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 6:27 PM, tinyyoli <tinyyoli at aol.com> wrote:

>
>
> 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
>
>                   Comment
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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
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