Nez Perce denounce maverick scientist's Hanford waste theories

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Hooray for the Nez Perce.  Since they have a good deal at stake in the

Hanford area, they hire experts to review extravagent claims of harm.



My opinion only,

Susan Gawarecki



May 31, 2002: Nez Perce denounce maverick scientist's

Hanford waste theories



A Nez Perce review found that gadfly scientist Norm

Buske's research on radioactive thorium and europium in

the Hanford Reach is too flawed to be valid.



A draft report by Buske "is often scientifically misleading,"

said a letter this week from the Nez Perce Tribe's

Environmental Restoration and Waste Management

Program to the Government Accountability Project, a

Hanford watchdog organization.

...

Buske said his studies showed concentrations of

thorium and europium in the Columbia River that exceed

government guidelines.



He extrapolated those readings to mean Hanford created

massive "semi-secret" amounts of uranium 233 for mini

atomic bombs. Buske also contended that the thorium and

europium threaten salmon. The Hanford Reach is a major

salmon spawning area.

...

Hanford health committee members expressed skepticism

in January about Buske's conclusions. And some wanted

this theory to go through a peer review in which outside

experts double-check a researcher's work, a standard

practice in scientific publishing.



The Idaho-based Nez Perce, who have cultural ties to

salmon and the Hanford Reach, sought experts to conduct

such a peer review.



In his Tuesday letter to GAP, Patrick Sobotta, head of the

tribe's environmental restoration program, wrote that

Buske's research appeared biased, did not follow

universally accepted scientific procedures, contained little

or no information on his methodologies, was unfocused,

did not use an independent lab to analyze water samples,

and did not back up its conclusions on paper



"If we want to hold (the Department of Energy) and its

contractors to these high standards, then other

organizations conducting studies at Hanford should also

abide by the same standards," Sobotta wrote.

....



For the full story, see:

http://www.hanfordnews.com/2002/0531.html

--

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