PROFESSIONALS?

["Raymond Shadis" <shadis@ime.net>]

FRANZ,

You write,

 "Another question of course is that you are not only no professional, but

> that you lack obviously any knowledge about the matter you write on.

> Therefore the harsh reaction of other RADSAFErs is well understandable,

> especially since it is not the first time that somebody - for instance

once

> a declared anti-nuclear activist with as little knowledge as you - wanted

to

> explain to us, what radiation protection is, what are the hazards of one

> single radioactive atom and one single quantum from a radioactive element

> etc. etc.

> But you - and so many others! - who have not the slightest idea about

> radiation, nuclear technology, radioecology etc. etc. - you want to tell

us

> professionals what is right and wrong? It is bad enough when we look what

> charlatans are in the mass media, in authorities and influencing the

> decision makers and politicians.

>

> This list is - if I remember correctly - for the exchange of information

for

> professionals. Also non-professionals have been tolerated, at least to my

> knowledge nobody has been denied to read the contributions. Many

> non-professionals have asked for advice in questions concerning

radiation -

> and they have been given it to the best of our knowledge. This list has

> always been very tolerant.

>

> If you have a little bit of self-criticism, please stop sending messages

to

> the list. Read the contribution, you might be able to learn a little."

>

 Franz,

When I first signed on to the list, I indeed thought it would not only be an

exchange among professionals, but also that the exchanges would be

professional. I received generous replies and references to a question on

calculating dose from hot particles, to a question on the work of W.I

Vernadsky, Soviet scientist, and to a question on Pu-240 concentrations in

various types of fuel.

However I found the list contibutions peppered with ridiculous and

unsubstantiated assertions which were anything but professional.  I think it

is plain that threshold of acceptance on radsafe is more philosopical than

it is professional. The demonstrated inabilty of some radsafe responders to

follow a simple linear progression of reason does not bode well for the

future of radiation professions.



     " But you - and so many others! - who have not the slightest idea about

    radiation, nuclear technology, radioecology etc. etc. - you want to tell

us

    professionals what is right and wrong? It is bad enough when we look

what

    charlatans are in the mass media, in authorities and influencing the

    decision makers and politicians."

Franz,

I just completed service on the US NRC's Initial Implementation Evaluation

Panel on the new Reactor Oversight Process. Federal law says these FACA

panels must be made up of experts. I have been invited, on Friday, to

present my views (for the fourth time) at a Briefing of the NRC

Commissioners. Now, I admittedly don't know much after only twenty-two years

of generalized nuclear study, but it is wrong to say that I haven't the

slightest idea about " radiation, nuclear technology, radioecology, etc." I

do have a "slight"  idea. What is surprising to me is not that youngsters

with a fresh HP ticket may also have only a "slight" idea, but that so many

PhDs act like graduates of a Skinner box; incapable of considered and

thoughtful dialogue. Some of the "charlatans" in the mass media and journals

have the same professional credentials that many members of your list have.

Should we also listen to them without question? All-in-all, I would much

rather live in an overly protective frame of reference where we hope we are

wrong, than in an attitude of non-conservative assumptions about risk in

which one is so afraid of being wrong that you can't stand a single

contradiction or disagreement, even on semantics.

I will attempt initiating no further dialogue.



Thank You,  Ray



>

> ************************************************************************

> You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

> send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

> radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

>



************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.