[ RadSafe ] Overcoming America's nuclear power phobia]

[Marcel Schouwenburg]

Poste on behalf of Yuan-Chi Luan
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Dear John and friends:

I am glad you are a health physicist, we can fully understand each other.
I learned as a health physicist in two courses on Atomic and NBC pollution
in the Chemical Corp. or the Chemical School in Fort Mclallan,Ala USA.
After I finished my radiation safety training in AECL, Canada in 1970, I
was authorized to set up the system of radiation health physicist in three
levels in Taiwan. But I did not bother to qualify myself as a certified
health physicist. I understand the importance of the HPS statement. It is
a good basis for a health physicist to tell the nuclear energy workers and
the public how could they be affected by radiation. If radiation could
induce cancers, the natural background radiation could cause more than
10,000 cancer  deaths in 5 years in Taiwan, but the radiation from the
peaceful of nuclear energy would cause only one death. Now I would like to
tell the HPS its statement should be revised right away based on Taiwan
experience. The natural radiation has existing since the beginning of the
earth, it is not enough for human health  now, if the nuclear energy
workers and public could receive excess about 5 rem  radiation each year
in Taiwan, the about 35,000 cancer deaths in Taiwan might  be prevented.
Only the HPS has to confirm the beneficial or hormetic health effects of
the chronic radiation are really different to those of the acute radiation
from the atomic explosion or a nuclear accident.

As I am also a chemical health physicist and the consultant of the NBC
Society, I watched and followed also the RCA compensation case in Taiwan.
This case was also closely associated with politician desire,
environmental scientists and organizations exaggerating the toxicological
effects, and the environment organization activities, budget, education
expanded, this caused the people always complained the cancers were caused
by the environment pollutions. I do not know whether trichloroethylene
could really injure the workers in RCA and public around the plants, as
the trichloroethylene in high dose really could injure people, but
according to Dr Calabrease, the chairman of the Interantional Hormesis
Society, low dose toxicity would be  hormetic to people, and according to
the experience observed in the Taiwan Co-60 contamination incident,
chronic radiation is always beneficial to people, and could reduce the
cancer mortality, the trichloroethylene might be beneficial to people.,
the cancer is the highest mortality and increasing rapidly in USA and
Taiwan might be because the environmental protection limitation and
practices are too strictly conducted. The number of cancer deaths and
incidences of RCA employee and public could be traced by the association,
but no organization could not compare with the population in Taiwan, it is
too complicated for me to do so, so that the NBC Society never comment and
recommendation anything to the EPA, DOH and the Labor Department in
Taiwan, not like what it constantly did about the Co-60 contaminated
apartments, and ask the AEC and DOH to study and investigate on this
incident, and  tell the residents  never worry about their health. .

The lawsuit of the RCA compensation has been going on for more than 20
years, I wish a compromise could be arranged by assisting with USA and
Taiwan governments, because the employee and public did suffer worry and
anxiety, and it was known that a sum of money reserved for solving the
case. A small number of residents lived in a heavy contaminated apartments
ever sued the AEC and they won and compensated on the ground that the
government knew that their apartments were contaminated in 1984 but they
were purposely not informed. Most of the residents lived in apartments
suffered worry and anxiety for 21 years, but they do not have strong
reason to sue government, I recommend any government or NGO organization
wish to investigate their health  status or cancer mortality, they should
be considerable rewarded, when they step out and produce their certificate
to show they have been in the apartment and suffered the cancer deaths or
hereditary defected off-springs. This investigation results will benefit
the whole world, and the residents who have completed the clinical
experiments should be honored.

I am sorry I talked to much about my personal experience and feeling, but
I think it might be helpful for people to know the true health effects of
chronic radiation, which might make the general public fear no more of
radiation, and make the nuclear energy to be used easily, and I constantly
told James Muckerheide chronic radiation might be applied for immune of
cancers and hereditary deformation is most what I care about. I am sorry
too, I mentioned politics again. It is a sad thing the politician could
control the scientists and the organization to have no free mind and
conscience, politics had forced Taiwan to be a non-nuclear homeland. There
used to a famous nuclear university named Tsing-Hua University in Taiwan,
but no term of  nuclear department and nuclear institute appeared, the
Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) is also going to change its
name, Taiwan is actually a small country, billion dollars would spent for
importing coal, oil and natural gases, but it try to stops to develop its
own nuclear energy, like France and Japan, this is just because some
politician want this, and of course they do not care whether the chronic
radiation is beneficial to humanity or not.

Best regards,
Y. C. Luan   Senior Scientist of NuSTA and consultant of NBC Society.

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Marcel Schouwenburg
RadSafe moderator & listowner