Washington Post Gives Nuclear Propaganda Red Carpet Treatment

Patrick Moore’s article in the Washington Post, “Going Nuclear,” [April 16] provides the kind of misleading and inaccurate information that one often hears from nuclear industry propagandists. In a Post-sponsored online forum held Monday, Moore acknowledged that his organization, Greenspirit, works for the industry’s promotional firm, the Nuclear Energy Institute. But, the Washington Post, having selected Moore’s flawed article in preference to hundreds of other submissions it receives monthly, has not acknowledged that NEI is a prominent advertiser on the newspaper’s website.

Moore alleges that the containment dome at Three Mile Island (TMI) “did just what it was designed to do - prevent radiation from escaping into the environment.” In fact, radiation did escape, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) acknowledges in its “Fact Sheet on the Accident at Three Mile Island. The NRC reports that “about 2 million people in the area” received an estimated “average dose” of about 1 millirem.”

That number may be low, but averaging the radiation dose for two million people is pretty useless in any case for evaluating human health impacts. Just as snowfall can vary widely in depth across a region, the intensity of radionuclide deposition can vary drastically, resulting in spikes of radiation, or “hotspots,” that may be less than a mile wide. For this reason, field monitoring teams are expected to make detailed maps of the deposition “footprint.” But, let’s assume for a moment that every one of the two million people exposed to TMI radiation received a dose of 1 millirem, or its equivalent, 0.01 mSv.

Based on a June, 2005, National Academies of Science (NAS) report, Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII - Phase 2, an annual exposure of 0.01 mSv, on top of any existing exposure, would result in solid cancer or leukemia in roughly one percent of the cases, or 20,000 people in our TMI population. This is in addition to cancers resulting from other causes. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it is not possible to predict which of the 2 million will be among that 20,000.

Even after someone develops a cancer or other illness, it is extremely difficult to prove that the illness resulted drom the power plant accident and not some other cause ranging from natural radiation to hazardous chemicals. In the laboratory, researchers can control the environment and thus see the connection between low-level radiation and health effects, including damaged DNA. But, in the uncontrolled environment inhabited by humans, harm that develops invisibly over a period of years is not easily discerned or traced. Too often, radiation is like the gloved thief who steals the family jewels and leaves no fingerprints.

Moore’s statement that “there was no injury or death among nuclear workers or nearby residents,” is so unfair that one is tempted to propose renaming his organization, "Meanspirit." In fact, many TMI residents reported illness following the accident and many of those injuries would have resulted from TMI’s release of radiation, as the NAS study suggests. But, the claimants were unable to convince a judge that the nuclear power plant was the source of their specific illnesses.

About nuclear waste, Moore writes, “Within 40 years, used fuel has less than one-thousandth of the radioactivity it had when it was removed from the reactor.” He leaves readers in the dark about the decay rate of radionuclides likely to be released in a nuclear power plant emergency. Cesium-137, with a half-life of roughly 30 years, is one of several radionuclides that most concern public health officials, potentially contaminating milk and other food. Another radionuclide, plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years. Government agencies are required to plan for radiological contamination as far as 50 miles from nuclear power plants. Notably, New York City is less than 30 miles from the Indian Point plant.

Like Moore, government and industry keep citizens clueless about radiation threats. When I asked to review my agency’s recommendations to the public for radiological contamination of the food supply, my supervisor refused to release the information, saying it was “classified. Citizen groups rarely gain entrée to government planning meetings, although NEI frequently has a seat at the table. Nor can citizen groups match NEI’s huge contributions to elected officials.

The “mushroom treatment” has had a negative impact on preparedness for all emergencies involving radiation. At an exercise testing the nation’s catastrophic disaster plan against a nuclear weapons scenario, federal and state officials floundered helplessly and concluded that most citizens would be on their own. Americans unprepared to deal with radiation exposure would have a much slimmer chance of survival.

The TMI accident was anything but the “success story,” Moore outrageously claims. On the contrary, TMI has long been used as a case study in how not to handle a radiation emergency. Possibly, nuclear power will provide, ultimately, a good solution to the world’s energy problems. But, an industry that constantly acts like has something to hide has a lot of explaining to do before it receives a mandate to expand. And, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which has its roots in nuclear power, is cause for grave concern. Americans would do well to follow the lead of those in Great Britain and France who are opposing additional construction of nuclear power plants, at least until they get more answers to vitally important questions.

The author worked for 16 years as a specialist in nuclear emergency preparedness for the federal government, and currently publishes the weblog
"Goverup.com.