The age of nuclear energy, now over 50 years old, has given the world a great source of energy for both good and evil. On the one hand, it has helped to provide the electric power that does so much to make our lives more productive and enjoyable. On the other hand, it has terrorized us with the awful weapons it has created and the damages to public health and the environment.
Ranking high among its most frightening aspects are the waste materials that result from the production of nuclear energy and nuclear weaponry. Nuclear wastes loom as a danger to life and the environment because they are radioactive, emitting a radiation that can be deadly. Adding to their dangers is the fact that many require up to an astonishing 10,000 years before their radiation dwindles to the point where they are no longer able to harm.
The production of nuclear power and nuclear weaponry generates radioactive waste products, otherwise known as radwastes. If not properly stored, these wastes render our soil, air, and water supply vulnerable to radioactive contamination. The only secure means of disposal is shielding. Nuclear waste needs to be stored far beyond human reach, where it can decay for the hundreds, even thousands, of years necessary for it to become harmless.
Unfortunately, a serious problem of radioactive contamination of both the workplace and the environment emerged in the late 1980s. This was the exposure of the '"Cold War era" secret testing of human reaction to exposure to radiation and the poisoning of millions of people working in or living near nuclear weapons facilities. It began in 1947 and was kept secret for over 40 years. Meanwhile, nuclear waste disposal was taking place at 117 weapons factories, 16 principal and over 100 secondary, in 13 states. Contract management initially was the responsibility of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), one of the predecessors to the Department of Energy (DOE). DOE now has the responsibility for the huge task of cleaning up these sites.
The bomb factories highlight the absolute disregard for public health, worker safety, human dignity, and the environment. Indeed, they represent a total collapse of ethics and accountability in our government and the defense contractors as evidenced by their ignoring the professional engineers, scientists, and managers who were trying to "blow the whistle".9 The media first made a large-scale exposure of the nuclear weaponry research and development at the 16 major sites in late 1988. Whistleblowers were beginning to expose the innumerable health, safety, security, and other violations at all the bomb factory sites in 1986. Plant workers, their families, and their communities have been knowingly exposed to unacceptable levels of radioactive emissions and wastes since 1947. However, it took the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster of 1986 in Russia to trigger U.S. media to listen to the whistleblowers.
Ranking high among its most frightening aspects are the waste materials that result from the production of nuclear energy and nuclear weaponry. Nuclear wastes loom as a danger to life and the environment because they are radioactive, emitting a radiation that can be deadly. Adding to their dangers is the fact that many require up to an astonishing 10,000 years before their radiation dwindles to the point where they are no longer able to harm.
The production of nuclear power and nuclear weaponry generates radioactive waste products, otherwise known as radwastes. If not properly stored, these wastes render our soil, air, and water supply vulnerable to radioactive contamination. The only secure means of disposal is shielding. Nuclear waste needs to be stored far beyond human reach, where it can decay for the hundreds, even thousands, of years necessary for it to become harmless.
Unfortunately, a serious problem of radioactive contamination of both the workplace and the environment emerged in the late 1980s. This was the exposure of the '"Cold War era" secret testing of human reaction to exposure to radiation and the poisoning of millions of people working in or living near nuclear weapons facilities. It began in 1947 and was kept secret for over 40 years. Meanwhile, nuclear waste disposal was taking place at 117 weapons factories, 16 principal and over 100 secondary, in 13 states. Contract management initially was the responsibility of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), one of the predecessors to the Department of Energy (DOE). DOE now has the responsibility for the huge task of cleaning up these sites.
The bomb factories highlight the absolute disregard for public health, worker safety, human dignity, and the environment. Indeed, they represent a total collapse of ethics and accountability in our government and the defense contractors as evidenced by their ignoring the professional engineers, scientists, and managers who were trying to "blow the whistle".9 The media first made a large-scale exposure of the nuclear weaponry research and development at the 16 major sites in late 1988. Whistleblowers were beginning to expose the innumerable health, safety, security, and other violations at all the bomb factory sites in 1986. Plant workers, their families, and their communities have been knowingly exposed to unacceptable levels of radioactive emissions and wastes since 1947. However, it took the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster of 1986 in Russia to trigger U.S. media to listen to the whistleblowers.