Editing 79-14-B5 (section)

=== Transcript ===
There have been some questions in the mail recently about my stand on nuclear
power. Some have challenged that the problem of nuclear waste has not been solved.
Others have taken the position that the very existence of nuclear plants threatens
us with the dread, invisible spread of radioactivity. The things we have now
learned about the harmful effects of low level radiation from the World War II
bomb tests is offered as proof that nuclear electric generating plants will be an
ongoing source of silent death.

Well, it is true that mistakes were made in those early days of atomic testing;
that there was a lack of information even among nuclear scientists. It is equally
true that we now do have an enormous fund of knowledge which makes it possible to
accurately appraise potential risk.

When Madam Curie's discoveries led to the development of the X-ray we know
there was little thought given to possible side effects. Undoubtedly there were
casualties associated with X-ray use. But would anyone suggest that the X-ray
has not been a boon to mankind with benefits far outweighing the unanticipated
side effects?

Samuel A. Wenk, research and development manager for the Southwest Research
Institute, has tried to put risk and benefit in proper perspective. He says, "We
live in a world of natural radiation. Everyone panics at the terms 'nuclear'
and 'radiation' when it comes to power plants; in truth, however, we are getting daily
doses of radiation from the sun, the ground and the buildings we live in that is
10 to 20 times greater than what is put out by nuclear power plants."

Wenk is peculiarly well qualified to speak of this--not alone by his scientific
training. He had a skin cancer removed that was caused by too much exposure to the
sun.

But here is assessment of the annual natural radiation we're all exposed to.
Ground level radiation from cosmic rays is about 45 millirems. If you fly an
average of 10 hours a month add another 62½ millirems. The average in the United
States of radiation from the ground we walk on is 60 millirems. The building materials
in our homes give off 40, and in driving 10,000 miles we get an additional 4 from
the paving materials used in streets and highways. That totals some 211 millerems
per year.

That is the equivalent of 10 chest X-rays and we haven't counted what we eat
and drink. The intake from that is 25 millirems. Then Wenk says there is localized
exposure. A wearer of dentures gets Alpha radiation which fortunately has limited
penetration. Wearing glasses adds rems of Alpha radiation to the corneas.
Cooking with natural gas exposes us to Radon, which is also found in our drinking
water-there are no average figures on this. You get more Radon from taking a shower
than you do if you take a bath.

An efficient 1000 megawatt coal generating plant exposes the nearby population
to 380 millirems a year. A nuclear power plant is restricted to less than 10 at
its own fence.

Anyone interested can get this information and more from the federal government's
Environmental Protection Agency report: "Radiological Quality of the Environment in
the U.S. - 1977." 

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