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Re: Low Doses, Ethics and LNT -Reply



	Sandy's and Ron's recent postings prompted me to propose the following for
discussion.

	Who is a bigger KILLER--the airline industry or the nuclear industry?

	What do we as RADSAFERS conclude that the Airline Industry is doing
"right" that the Nuclear Industry seemingly is doing "wrong" from the
standpoint of maintaining the trust and confidence of John & Jane Doe?
After all, the airline industry, on an annual basis, routinely ends up
killing far greater numbers of people than the nuclear industry ever
thought about doing.  Yet, even though the airline investigation boards
only seem to come up with corrections AFTER a given airline accident has
occurred, such "response after the fact" still seems to somehow maintain
the trust/confidence of the public.  Even we RADSAFERS presumably do not
curtail our taking airline flights subsequent to major airline crashes!  In
comparison, it seems that no matter how proactive the nuclear industry is
in terms of retrofitting and replacing/updating safety systems with the
latest in technology, we still cannot seem to obtain the trust/confidence
of the public.

Best regards  David



At 10:00 AM 13-08-97 -0500, you wrote:
>Sandy:
>
>Go easy on the caffiene man you're goin to blow a gasket!
>
>But seriously, to use an analogy:
>
>If a plane crashes 50 miles from my house do I have any concerns?
>Not if I ain't on the plane.
>Not if none of the parts hits my property.
>
>Can the FAA tell me, with 100% certainty, that I will not be affected by this
>crash?
>.......YES......
>
>Now
>
>If a Nuclear Power Plant melts down 50 miles from my house do I have any
>concerns?
>If there is a release to the environment???
>If the wind blows it over my house???
>
>Can the NRC tell me, with 100% certainty, that I will not be affected by this
>meltdown?
>...NO....
>
>Don't get excited now.  This ain't me talkin this is John & Jane Doe out
there
>lookin at Nuclear anything and seeing Chernobyle all over again.  And we
can do
>all the studies we want and gather all the statistics we want and it will all
>go in one ear and out the other.  Until genetic science gets to the point
where
>we can PROVE without a doubt that 'small' exposures are harmless we are
blowin
>in the wind.  We also have to remember that the public was sold a bill of
goods
>about Nuclear Power from the beginning, (too cheap to meter, safest industry
>going, best trained and qualified personnel, etc).  Well, it's pretty
>expensive, we have had a litany of errors ongoing since Chalk River (most non
>published till recently) and those best trained and highly qualified people
>have made mistake after mistake all the while trying to cover up their
>mistakes.
>
>The truth is, most folks just flat don't trust anything with the word Nuclear
>attached to it and I can't say as I blame them much.  We ain't (<= i love
that
>word) been very good at being honest with ourselves, much less the public.  
>
>Oh, by the way I'm not an anti nuke.....far from it....have been nuclear
since
>' 65.  Seen the good, the bad and the ugly.  So just a little reminder that
>sometimes it is good therapy to get outside the box and look at ourselves as
>others see us and always remember
>
>...................PERCEPTION IS REALITY....................
>
>Ron Shepherd   RSC, HP, ALARA, RADDOG
>
>33 Rem and still lookin good!
>
>SHEPHRL@GWSMTP.NU.COM
>
>Standard disclaimers apply.
>
>
David W. Lee
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Radiation Protection Services Group (ESH-12)
PO Box 1663, MS K483
Los Alamos, NM  87545
PH:   (505) 667-8085
FAX:  (505) 667-9726
lee_david_w@lanl.gov