Humans Raise Risk of Europe Heatwaves

[farbersa <farbersa@optonline.net>]

Hi all:



As we all have witnessed various "environmentalists" and anti-nuclear  

activists wring their hands over the theoretical risk of a few mrem/year  

to a maximally exposed individual from current nuclear facility operations  

[ or a possible mrem/year or micro-rem/year from high-level nuclear waste  

disposal leading to a small number of theoretical cancer cases up to  

10,000 years in the future]. At the same time, more and more scientific  

research is showing substantial impacts of global warming on human health  

in the here and now. So it can be said that many critics are fiddling  

while Rome burns as it were.



The interested reader is referred to the link below from a Reuters news  

item on Planetark.com, which notes that  "Tens of thousands of people in  

Europe died during the sweltering weather as the mercury soared to new  

highs [this past summer]".  The scientists involved have suggested that  

man's activity has doubled the risk of these extreme heatwaves.



It remains important as scientific studies by non-partisan government and  

academic researchers find that greenhouse gas releases are having a global  

effect on climate, that those working in the nuclear industry be aware of  

the likely benefits of nuclear power generation today in avoiding the  

input of over a billion tons of carbon dioxide per year into the  

atmosphere. Nuclear power is not solely the answer to global warming, but  

it can play a major and even larger role in reducing the total input of  

CO-2 from the power generation sector vs. burning more coal or natural  

gas, plus if nuclear generated electricity is used in advanced reactors  

for hydrogen production it can assist in the transportation sector as well  

in avoiding fossil fuel burning.



So see the link below and excerpt from this link beneath it.



Happy holidays everyone,



Stewart Farber

[203]367-0791



http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/28386/story.htm



EXCERPT:

UK: December 2, 2004



LONDON - Human activity has raised the risk of more heatwaves like last  

year's, which gave Europe probably its hottest summer since 1500,  

scientists said on Wednesday.



Tens of thousands of people in Europe died during the sweltering weather  

as the mercury soared to new highs.



Unusual meteorological conditions were blamed for the extremely hot, dry  

summer. But Peter Stott, of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and  

Research in England, said human activity, particularly greenhouse gas  

emissions, at least doubled the risk of the unusual event.



"We are responsible for increasing significantly the risk of such  

heatwaves, largely through greenhouse gas emissions" Stott told Reuters.



"If we carry on as usual with emissions, our predictions indicate that  

every other year will be as hot as 2003 by the middle of the century," he  

added.



Stott and his colleagues studied climate change throughout the 20th  

century. They suspect human influence probably started altering the  

climate as far back as the 18th century.



"But it has only been in the last 50 years that the temperature has really  

started to accelerate as a result of greenhouse gas emissions," Stott said.



-- 

Stewart Farber

Consulting Scientist

1285 Wood Ave.

Bridgeport, CT 06604

[203] 367-0791 [home office]

[203] 522-2817 [cell]

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