Comm. w/public and sover.immunity

["Conklin, Al" <awc0303@hub.doh.wa.gov>]

I'm new on radsafe(about a week) and have been fascinated by some of the 
topics discussed. I thought I'd add my 2-cents worth two of them.



First, on communicating with the public. I think the basic problems with 
trying to successfully communicate with the public are lack of 
credibility by those attempting to communicate, and hard and fast biases 
by those we try to communicate with. Good science usually takes a back 
seat. I've been dealing with Hanford for 19 years now. Historically, 
Hanford released lots of rad to the air and/ or Columbia River and 
groundwater from 1944 through 1971 (For example: 748,000 curies of I-131 
to the air). Much was kept secret until 1986. Then, USDOE was not very 
successful in dismissing the public 's concerns. They were dismally 
unsuccessful, in fact.  Some of the best tried, but they had lost all 
credibility. In addition, people then had something to tie their 
families' health problems to. No explanation of statistics, dose/response 
relationships, good science, etc, will change their minds. Then there are 
Activist groups, who have agendas, and are not always interested in 
truth. I deal with them all, and find most to be sincere, confused and 
not knowing who to trust (with some notable exceptions). They don't 
differentiate between "defense" nuclear activities and commercial 
reactors, and don't feel there's any significant difference between 
Chernobyl and a typical reactor built in the West.  I find that to 
communicate successfully with them, you have to be willing to admit to 
screw-ups, have to talk their language and never ever be an apologist for 
the nuclear industry. Well, there's more, but I've done this long enough.



Concerning sovereign immunity on federal lands as it relates to state 
regulations. The federal Clean Air Act (section 118) is one area where 
sovereign immunity is waived. The State of Washington currently regulates 
USDOE and USDoD facilities under the federal and state Clean Air Acts for 
radionuclides. I run that program. We were just delegated 40 CFR 61 
subparts H and I in addition to having our own regulations. Under the NRC 
Agreement State program, our department also regulates on the Hanford 
Site if the company being regulated is not a "prime contractor" . Just 
being on federal land does not exempt them. I just talked to one of our 
X-Ray inspectors who confirmed that they are frequently on the site doing 
inspections.