Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima

[RobertEarl]

By: Gayle Greene

It is one of the marvels of our time that the nuclear industry managed to resurrect itself from its ruins at the end of the last century, when it crumbled under its costs, inefficiencies, and mega-accidents. Chernobyl released hundreds of times the radioactivity of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined, contaminating more than 40% of Europe and the entire Northern Hemisphere. But along came the nuclear lobby to breathe new life into the industry, passing off as “clean” this energy source that polluted half the globe. The “fresh look at nuclear”—in the words of a New York Times makeover piece (May 13, 2006)—paved the way to a “nuclear Renaissance” in the United States that Fukushima has by no means brought to a halt.

That mainstream media have been powerful advocates for nuclear power comes as no surprise. “The media are saturated with a skilled, intensive, and effective advocacy campaign by the nuclear industry, resulting in disinformation” and “wholly counterfactual accounts…widely believed by otherwise sensible people,” states the 2010-2011 World Nuclear Industry Status Report by Worldwatch Institute. What is less well understood is the nature of the “evidence” that gives the nuclear industry its mandate, Cold War science which, with its reassurances about low-dose radiation risk, is being used to quiet alarms about Fukushima and to stonewall new evidence that would call a halt to the industry.

http://japanfocus.org/-Gayle-Greene/3672#

[teddy51]

1. Ok, we have seen some of the effects of Chernobyl in the immediate vicinity of the accident, but

where has there been proof of Chernobyl effects elsewhere in the world? I seriously am asking an innocent question, cause I don't know.

[RobertEarl]

2. One study of Calif birds i read

Besides the several studies cited in the OP linked report, there was science done on declining bird pops on the Calif coast. Report stated that baby birds were dying from Chernobyl radiation.

The linked report is very long. The gist of it is that the science of radiation has been tightly controlled to favor the US nuclear industry and to alleviate fears about Atom Bombs after Hiroshima.

So the really good science about Chernobyl, if you agree with Ms. Greene is that that science has been hidden. I agree with Greene.

[RobertEarl]

3. Here is something to think about, too

We all are aware of the skewed science about Global Warming and CO2.

Even the US government has been in the practice of skewing the GW science. Maybe they learned how by skewing the Atom Bomb/Nuke science since 1944?

[WriteWrong]

4. Science is over. It's a new game, with new rules.

The mechanism by which science itself decides what is worthy of study has been utterly corrupted. We may as well admit that everything we learned about "science" doesn't necessarily apply to corporate technology.