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RE: Bhopal, radiation, and risk standards
> There is no human activity, or inactivity, that is without risk.
In the context that Don uses it below, that statement is true and important.
But it is also often used as a sucker punch. For example, the risk of
getting hit by a flying pig is zero. Not small, but sero. There is no such
risk, because pigs can't fly (in the real world we live in). (Don't suggest
jet-assisted, genetically-modified pigs of a type not yet discovered.
That's where engineering realism trumps sci-fi speculation.)
It is equally true that a reactor casualty to a modern LWR plant or its fuel
cannot kill hundreds of thousands of people. The real-world laws of
materials, heat transfer, diffusion, suspension of particles, etc. simply
prevent it. It is not "highly improbable." It is demonstrably impossible,
and we should say so. Just one factor in the solution, which is enough by
itself to demostrate impossibility, is that the megadeath predictions depend
on thousands of people that got trivial radiation doses, dying because
others also received trivial doses. That reasoning has been universally and
publicly denounced as invalid, yet people keep using it and we won't refute
it.
And so the record stands. Nuclear power is risky.
Ted Rockwell
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of
dckosloff@FIRSTENERGYCORP.COM
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 4:45 PM
To: Ted de Castro
Cc: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; A Karam;
radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: Bhopal, radiation, and risk standards
Although the CHOICE issue is conceptually important, in reality it does not
exist for many "low-risk" human activities. When anti-nukes use it is is
simple fraud. For example, imagine that you are a child who has chosen to
go outside and play during recess while you are in elementary school.
Although, as a small child, you would have most certainly evaluated your
risk of death from using playground equipment, you probably would not have
evaluated your risk of death from a transportation accident during recess.
Such risks are not only ever present, but there are actaully people who
have really been killed from such risks coming to sad fruition. For
example, when Senator Heinz died in a helicoptor crash, his helicopter and
the plane that collided with it landed in a school playground and also
killed two children. Those children had not made a CHOICE to pilot a
helicopter or a plane. They had not even made a CHOICE to ride in a
helicopter or plane. It is highly unlikely that they made their CHOICE to
play in the playground after considering the probability of playground
death due to a transportation accident. In the US alone, there are
thousands of similar examples each year where people have really been
killed by another person's CHOICE. None of them have involved the use of
nuclear power. How many other real examples would you like to have? I am
sure that you can think of many yourself. If you can't think of any
examples right now, stay aware of the concept in the future and it won't be
long before you have several of your own examples.
There is no human activity, or inactivity, that is without risk.
Don Kosloff
Perry, OH
Ted de Castro
<tdc@XRAYTED.COM> To: A Karam
<paksbi@rit.edu>
Sent by: cc:
radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
owner-radsafe@list.van Subject: Re: Bhopal,
radiation, and risk standards
derbilt.edu
12/07/2004 01:43 PM
Please respond to Ted
de Castro
You covered most points except the issue the anti's keep coming back to
- the CHOICE issue. They feel they can choose to drive or not but
object to a low level radiation exposure they they feel is imposed upon
them; that they cannot choose to avoid.
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