From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Dr. Yehoshua Socol –https://www.americaoutloud.com/has-the-fear-of-nuclear-war-tainted-the-benefits-of-clean-nuclear-energy/
When I was in grammar school, we practiced every Monday at noon hiding under our desks in case an atomic bomb was dropped. Looking back, being in a navy town and the school near a navy base that likely would take a direct hit, the desk was pretty useless. I’m glad I was in Catholic school and we had plenty of prayers and a fast track to heaven.
By the time I started high school there was the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis where the USSR deployed nuclear armed missiles in Cuba. Then there was the threat of terrorists’ “dirty bombs” after 9-11. Now the saber rattling over Ukraine has put nuclear war worries in the forefront.
Thousands of nuclear weapons, 20 to 30 times more powerful than those used on Japan, reside all around the world. Russia and the U.S. each have between 5,000 and 6,000 nuclear weapons, while China has 350, France has 290, the U.K. has 225, and India and Pakistan each have around 160.
In the 1983 movie War Games, the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) War Operation Plan Response supercomputer learns over time that nuclear war is as futile as winning a game of tic-tac-toe between two good players. In case anyone hasn’t played, tic-tac-toe is a zero-sum game, which means that if both players are playing their best, then neither player will win. The computer concludes that the only winning move is not to play.
Adding to our Armageddon fear level, we have people going on and on about climate change and stopping the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas ASAP in order to save Mother Earth. They suggest windmills. Unfortunately, they are unreliable, inefficient and kill birds and perhaps sea life. And solar users may find that they have to pay $12,000 to $22,000 for a battery system if they discover that the solar panels are inadequate during non-sunlight hours. Why aren’t we talking about reliable, clean nuclear energy? Because nuclear is a word that pushes the fear button.
Everyone on Earth is exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation from, soil, the atmosphere, and oceans. When should we be afraid of being poisoned? My guest and I will talk about all things nuclear today.
Suggested reading:
Yehoshua Socol, Reconsidering Health Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident
Alexander Vaiserman, Alexander Koliada, Oksana Zabuga, Yehoshua Socol, Health Impacts of Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation: Current Scientific Debates and Regulatory Issues.
Yehoshua Socol, Ludwik Dobrzyński, Atomic Bomb Survivors Life-Span Study: Insufficient Statistical Power to Select Radiation Carcinogenesis Model
