RE: Suggestions...MSC story...[correction]

[Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

At 10:40 AM 1/18/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>I think people view hazards as how inconvenient elimination of that hazard
>would be to their daily life.

My own assessment is that people tend to view hazardous situations and
materials in terms of how much control they PERCEIVE they have over the
situation or materials. A driver believes he/she is in control, when
climbing onto a roof I control how careful or careless I am, when I fill
the gas tank on the lawn mower I can control the fire and explosion hazard,
etc. But with nuclear power, I don't control what happens in that plant,
and I've got someone whispering (shouting?) in my ear that's it's unsafe,
that no one in there can be trusted, etc. Given the opportunity, people
will exhibit the same feelings about chemical plants, coal burning plants
and many, many more.

When confronted with the facts and shown the data relative to other
perceived hazards, such as comparing a refinery explosion that kills four
employees to the fuel plant accident that killed one, most people that I've
talked to take a reasonable view of the actual risks. The difficulty is
doing that on a national or international scale. The media won't help
because it isn't a good story, and who has the resources to mount and
complete a public education campaign without media support?

===================================
Bob Flood
Dosimetry Group Leader
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(650) 926-3793
bflood@slac.stanford.edu
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