More on "Mobile Cherobyl" and PTSD

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

  From the NIRS website I copied the following:


"On July 3, 2000, NIRS and Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Project launched the Radioactive Roads and Rails Tour through the Heartland of America. From July 3 through August 6 (Hiroshima Day), NIRS drove a full-size mock atomic waste cask from Michigan to the proposed permanent nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Traveling along highways that will experience tens of thousands of real such casks, if nuclear industry-sponsored "Mobile Chernobyl" legislation becomes law, the tour brought attention to the very real public health and safety risks of such transport..."


No explanation or basis for the term "Mobile Chernobyl" is given on the site or in any links.  There is an extensive distorted discussion of the accident history (a database that is publicly available that I used to manage).  The cask mentioned in the above quote, and the NIRS people traveling with it were, by the way, confronted by the nuclear engineering students and faculty at Rolla, MO.


I suggest that those people who think that media presentations of fallout, TMI, etc., cause post-traumatic stress disorder take a look at the NIRS site (www.nirs.org).


I am also amused that Norman Cohen, who takes PTSD very seriously (or claims to)  just says that characterizing SNF transportation as "Mobile Chernobyl" is a just a good sound bite!


Answer the question please:  wouldn't the use of the term"Mobile Chernobyl" be likely to cause PTSD, if PTSD can be caused by scary media presentations?


My original question about "Mobile Chernobyl" has never been answered, and the NIRS website doesn't answer it either.


Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com