Author: Luke J. VortmanPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Blast effect
Languages : en
Pages : 62
Book Description
Project Palanquin
Author: Luke J. VortmanPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Blast effect
Languages : en
Pages : 62
Book Description
Elements of Controversy
Author: Barton C. HackerPublisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520083233
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 644
Book Description
Unforgettable congressional hearings in 1978 revealed that fallout from American nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s had overexposed hundreds of soldiers and other citizens to radiation. Faith in governmental integrity was shaken, and many people have assumed that such overexposure caused great damage. Yet important questions remain--the most controversial being: did the radiation overexposure in fact cause the cancers and birth defects for which it has been blamed? Elements of Controversy is the result of a decade of exhaustive research in AEC documentary records and the full clinical and epidemiological literature on radiation effects. More concerned with uncovering the historical story than with assigning blame, Barton Hacker concludes that every precaution was taken by the AEC to avoid harming test participants or bystanders. And, he points out, the biomedical literature suggests that these precautions worked. Yet top officials in Washington--for whom the success of nuclear weapons was of overriding importance--had asserted that testing involved no risks at all. Discrepancies between unverifiable government claims and the revelations that some actual risk was present explain the origins and angry persistence of the controversies, Hacker argues. The Department of Energy delayed publication of Hacker's study for five years, and while his controversial book is sure to draw objections from both sides of the radiation-hazard debates, it will provide a much-needed guide to understanding their polemics. Unforgettable congressional hearings in 1978 revealed that fallout from American nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s had overexposed hundreds of soldiers and other citizens to radiation. Faith in governmental integrity was shaken, and many people have assumed that such overexposure caused great damage. Yet important questions remain--the most controversial being: did the radiation overexposure in fact cause the cancers and birth defects for which it has been blamed? Elements of Controversy is the result of a decade of exhaustive research in AEC documentary records and the full clinical and epidemiological literature on radiation effects. More concerned with uncovering the historical story than with assigning blame, Barton Hacker concludes that every precaution was taken by the AEC to avoid harming test participants or bystanders. And, he points out, the biomedical literature suggests that these precautions worked. Yet top officials in Washington--for whom the success of nuclear weapons was of overriding importance--had asserted that testing involved no risks at all. Discrepancies between unverifiable government claims and the revelations that some actual risk was present explain the origins and angry persistence of the controversies, Hacker argues. The Department of Energy delayed publication of Hacker's study for five years, and while his controversial book is sure to draw objections from both sides of the radiation-hazard debates, it will provide a much-needed guide to understanding their polemics.
Project Plowshare
Author: Scott KaufmanPublisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801465834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
Inspired by President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech, scientists at the Atomic Energy Commission and the University of California's Radiation Laboratory began in 1957 a program they called Plowshare. Joined by like-minded government officials, scientists, and business leaders, champions of "peaceful nuclear explosions" maintained that they could create new elements and isotopes for general use, build storage facilities for water or fuel, mine ores, increase oil and natural gas production, generate heat for power production, and construct roads, harbors, and canals. By harnessing the power of the atom for nonmilitary purposes, Plowshare backers expected to protect American security, defend U.S. legitimacy and prestige, and ensure access to energy resources. Scott Kaufman's extensive research in nearly two dozen archives in three nations shows how science, politics, and environmentalism converged to shape the lasting conflict over the use of nuclear technology. Indeed, despite technological and strategic promise, Plowshare's early champions soon found themselves facing a vocal and powerful coalition of federal and state officials, scientists, industrialists, environmentalists, and average citizens. Skeptical politicians, domestic and international pressure to stop nuclear testing, and a lack of government funding severely restricted the program. By the mid-1970s, Plowshare was, in the words of one government official, "dead as a doornail." However, the thought of using the atom for peaceful purposes remains alive.
Proving Grounds
Author: Scott KirschPublisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813536668
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Book Description
In Proving Grounds, Scott Kirsch traces the rise and fall of this astonishing cold war initiative. He examines the work that went into making "geographical engineering" or "earthmoving" an imminent possibility as well as the public controversy, scientific uncertainty, and political opposition that kept it--with the exception of several massive craters in the Nevada desert--out of the landscape.
Hearings
Author: United States. Congress. HousePublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 2762
Book Description
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, Cumulative Index
Author: United States. Superintendent of DocumentsPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 1348
Book Description
Nuclear Science Abstracts
Author: Hearings and Reports on Atomic Energy
Author: United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic EnergyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear energy
Languages : en
Pages : 706
Book Description
AEC Authorizing Legislation
Author: United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic EnergyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 738
Book Description
Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
Author: United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic EnergyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Legislative hearings
Languages : en
Pages : 1826
Book Description