Nuclear issues and role of public opinion thread

[SAFarberMSPH@CS.COM]

Radsafe:


With the numerous recent posts related to public opinion being a real, perceived, or lamentable actor in nuclear technology related issues, it is interesting to note a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln which he stated during his first Lincoln-Douglas debate in August of 1858:


"With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions." - Lincoln


I came upon this Lincoln quote in researching a talk I was invited to give to the New England Chapter of the American Nuclear Society in the fall of 1988 prior to  the Dukakis-Bush, Sr. presidential election. I prepared a talk titled: "Nuclear Power and Public Information -- Suicide on the Installment Plan" for this ANS  meeting held at Seabrook Station. This talk was based on my observations and experience in how the nuclear power industry had [mis]handled its dealings with the public based on my inside the industry experience from 1972 as an environmental radiation monitoring scientist and some direct experience in public information efforts within the industry.


In late 1988, prior to the election, I had  independently and on a lark authored a  satire on the "health hazards of strepdukakis antinucleosis"  which was widely published in a various major New England newspapers as well as Nuclear News and the HPS Newsletter. This strepdukakis satire was published in the Boston Herald and clearly got to the Dukakis presidential campaign.


After the satire was published in the HPS Newsletter, I received a phone call from the Dukakis energy advisor wanting to know what were my qualifications as an environmental scientist and if I was employed by the Bush campaign!  I had the pleasure of telling the critical energy advisor caller from the Dukakis campaign that  I had a graduate Public Health degree from the UMass School of Public Health and 16 years experience at that time in environmental studies. Further, I was a registered Independent voter with no connection to the Bush campaign who wrote the satire "strepdukakis health threat to the body politic"  simply because I felt that Massachusetts' Gov. Dukakis [who had held up the licensing of Seabrook Station with a pocket veto in effect by refusing to cooperate in emergency plan development] was a hypocrite on his energy and environmental policies.


I believe the Lincoln observation from 1858 shows the genius of Lincoln and the huge job facing the  nuclear technologies industry if it is to be fairly considered for power generation and other applications where it could be meeting a variety of our society's needs. 


Stewart Farber, MS Public Health

Consulting Scientist

email: SAFarberMSPH@cs.com

[203] 386-1224