Re: Stirring the pot

[mgoldman@ucdavis.edu (Dr. Marvin Goldman)]

>>Is Health Physics Dead? I can attest to the fact that there are a number
>>of students graduating (graduated) with HP degrees, who are not able to
>>get jobs. Those who do, are looking at lower starting salaries or tech
>>jobs. Lay offs of fairly senior personnel have begun (right Sandy?).
>>Recent HP jobs that I know of have gotten over 50 applicants, with some
>>reported as many as 400.
>>
>>And with federal and commercial downsizing, power deregulation, DOE hiring
>>freeze and budget cuts, power plants getting older, research dollars
>>getting harder to come by, the future doesn't seem much better.
>>
>>Is this going to be discussed at the National Meeting? Or moreover, is
>>there anything we can do? What are new students being told? Is this as
>>grim as it looks?
>>
>
>I can't resist this one.
>
>It's obvious that, with the cost-cutting frenzy in the power reactor
>business and the end of the cold war mass production of weapons, the demand
>for HPs is "restructuring." There are, and will be, fewer people employed
>doing radiation safety stuff. But...
>
>What kind of boost for nuclear power might come from solving the waste
>disposal problem? If Ward Valley and other low level storage sites open and
>Yucca Mountain begins actually storing spent fuel successfully, could this
>result in a shift toward nuclear as a way to mitigate global warming? With
>insurance companies citing global warming as the basis for raising rates in
>areas subject to hurricanes, this issue is about to become a concern in the
>average American's wallet. Could the storage sites themselves provide some
>employment, and their success result in a resurgence of nuclear power?
>
>And what happens to nuclear power if we have another TMI? With the mania to
>reduce expenses on this quarter's balance sheet, is such an event more
>likely now than 10 years ago?
>
>Bob Flood
>Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
>(415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
>Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone.
Reply;
Couldn't resist adding a comment.  Does anyone know a way to bridge the
technical facts that truly benign waste solutions exist, but that no bridge
to the political solution has be put forth.  Does our presching to the
choir result in any productive progress.  Unless the economic short and
long term aspects are presented credibly, all seems to be on hold.  I've
watched this debade for the past 4 decades and am no less frustrated today
than before.  I suspect the answer lies in the Congressional Energy
Committees, but they are in the pockets of those we don't seem to reach.
Quo vadis?
Marvin Goldman