Re: RE: INS Laundry - Related Topic

[LIPTONW@dteenergy.com]

To put this in perspective, I recommend reading William Tucker's article, 
"Environmentalism and the Leisure Class - Protecting birds, fishes, and
above 
all, social privelege," which was published in "Harper's" magazine, in 
December, 1977.  It is a true classic - I have not seen anything since then
to 
match it.  The beauty of this article is that it has absolutely nothing to
do 
with nuclear power or radiation.  It's about the proposed Storm King
project, 
a pumped storage facility which Con Ed wanted to construct, to use offpeak 
power to pump water to an elevated holding pond, which would then be
released 
thru turbines during peak times. The only perceived environmental detriment 
was the loss of the natural esthetics along a small portion of the Hudson 
River.  The only group impacted was the relatively rich group of property 
holders in this area.  Ths article shows how they used environmental issues
to 
rally public opinion and eventually kill this project.  The media
consistenly 
portayed them as the "good guys."  The fact that the loss of this facility 
required Con Ed to build coal plants in or near New York City did not seem
to 
bother anyone.  
 
It's a rather long article, so please don't ask me to fax it.  It is
probably 
available at a university library. 
 
The opinions expressed are strictly mine. 
And, as always: 
It's not about dose, it's about trust. 
 
Bill Lipton 
liptonw@dteenergy.com   
 
You wrote: 
 
>--This discussion can be put on a quantitative basis by 
>considering the dollars spent  per life saved in various Societal 
>activities. There is a substantial literature on this, but my publications 
>on it are "Society's valuation of life saving in radiation protection and 
>other contexts", Health Physics 38:33ff;1980 and "Is reducing the hazards 
>of nuclear power cost effective?", Health Physics Newsletter November 
>1987, page 8. The subject is reviewed in my book "The Nuclear Energy 
>Option", available in many libraries and by inter-library loan in all 
>libraries. 
 
>Bernard L. Cohen 
>Physics Dept. 
>University of Pittsburgh 
>Pittsburgh, PA 15260 
>Tel: (412)624-9245 
>Fax: (412)624-9163 
>e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu 

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