Health effects near nuclear power plants

[Holloway3@aol.com]

The fatal weakness of the various claims of health effects near nuclear power 
plants is that the emissions from the plants are so low that they are 
insignificant compared to the radiation always present from natural sources.  
Even the residual fallout from weapons testing of the 1950s and early 1960s 
is more abundant in than emissions from reactors.  The claim of health 
effects from nuclear power plants just won't hold up under scrutiny as most 
of the readers of this list know. Making comparisons with natural background 
radiation is something that should be done more often to combat the poorly 
informed activists. 

To counter the flaws in their logic, the activists often claim that 
"artificial" radiation is somehow different and more harmful than natural 
radiation.  They don't elaborate much on this theory, though.  I think we 
should counter this claim by making the truthful statement that fission 
products are "natural" and "organic" because they were ultimately derived 
from uranium that once was dug up from the earth.  Once Christie Brinkley 
learns that uranium is really a natural element, I am sure she will accept it 
as being from the earth and therefore good.  
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