Nuclear fear

[dj_strom@ccmail.pnl.gov]

The public needs no help from the linear, no-threshold model to be 
afraid of radiation.  An excellent and scholarly work has been published 
on this subject:

Weart, S.R.  Nuclear Fear.  A History of Images. Cambridge, 
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; 1988.  ISBN 0-674-62835-7

Instead of speculation, I vote for research, too.  We have begun, but 
not completed, some work of our own (Quadrel et al. 1994).  Much remains 
to be done in this area.

Quadrel, M.J.; Blanchard, K.A.; Lundgren, R.E.; McMakin, A.H.; Mosley, 
M.T.; Strom, D.J.  U.S. Department of Energy Workers' Mental Models of 
Radiation and Chemical Hazards in the Workplace. PNL-9467.  Richland, 
Washington: Pacific Northwest Laboratory; 1994.

The opinions expressed above are my own, and have not been reviewed or 
approved by Battelle, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, or the 
U.S. Department of Energy.

Dan Strom dj_strom@pnl.gov