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Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Dr. Wade Allison – A revolution in radiation protection

January 5, 2013 By Rod Adams 10 Comments

Dr. Wade Allison, author of Radiation and Reason, recently shared a short paper titled A revolution in radiation protection that would lead to safer and cheaper nuclear power. He described it as “reference light”, explaining that his intended audience for this work is not the journal-reading academic community but the kind of people who want good information that can help them make informed decisions.

Here is a sample quote to whet your appetite for downloading and reading the whole paper.

Fundamentally, nuclear radiation is a powerful agent and the forces that hold life together are feeble, so the resilience of life is a surprise — that is, until you realise that in 400 million years life has had time to evolve many ingenious defences that enable it to survive powerful attacks. Designed first to protect plants and later animals, they are subconscious. In recent biological research many have been studied including action by anti-oxidants, DNA repair, cell death, and long-term immune protection against cells detected as foreign. Indeed the whole design of cellular biology with its dispersed DNA copies, its cycle of cellular replacement, overlaid by the life-and-death cycle of individuals, is optimised to ensure survival of the species against attack by physical and chemical agents — and, less certainly, by other biological systems too. Small wonder then that humans and other life forms survive low and moderate radiation levels without a scratch. Nature has matters well in hand at the cellular level and adaptive mechanisms actually bolster radiological protection based on previous moderate exposures.

The paper is only 4 pages long; you will thank me for recommending that you invest 5 minutes to read the document. Share it, spread it, help to overcome the inherited advantages of the forces aligned against the beneficial uses of nuclear energy and radiation.

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Filed Under: Health Effects, LNT

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience, now serving as a Managing Partner at Nucleation Capital, an emerging climate-focused fund. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial discussion and analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology and policies for several decades. He is the founder of Atomic Insights and host and producer of The Atomic Show Podcast.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Josh says

    January 6, 2013 at 3:47 AM

    Wade Allison has done much to combat the misinformation surrounding radiation and health/safety. Like Cohen, he uses the power of informed analysis to sort fact from fiction.

    Reply
  2. Josh says

    January 6, 2013 at 7:06 AM

    @Rod
    Perhaps a little off topic but i have stumbled across some of Doug Brugge’s work re: nuclear energy. He seems to be using 1950s standards uranium mining and the chernobyl accident as a basis for getting rid of this technology as well as standard arguments re proliferation. What are your thoughts?

    Reply
    • Rod Adams says

      January 6, 2013 at 8:01 AM

      Josh:

      Doug Brugge seems to be singing from the same collection of sheet music as people like Lovins, Lyman, and Caldicott.

      Here is a sample of a response to one of his articles along with his response that equates membership in the American Nuclear Society (a well respected technical professional organization) with being a parrot of nuclear industry talking points.

      http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/opin/dbrugge_093008.html

      Reply
      • John Englert says

        January 6, 2013 at 10:59 AM

        Did Brugge actually claim that nuclear power CO2 is 20-40%the of coal?

        Reply
        • Rod Adams says

          January 6, 2013 at 11:28 AM

          Yes. He apparently believes Storm / Smith under estimated the total emissions since the bottom of his range is the top of theirs.

          Reply
  3. Josh says

    January 6, 2013 at 8:21 AM

    That indeed appears to be the case. I find Brugge’s claims about the health impacts hard to believe.

    Reply
  4. Reese says

    January 6, 2013 at 3:34 PM

    Thanks, Rod. That is indeed an excellent paper. I loved his imagining the ancient debate about domesticating fire. The good “doctor” at Depleted Cranium had a graphic that captures the probable conversation: http://depletedcranium.com/ancient-man-used-fire/ .

    I work peripherally in RP and agree that there is much effort expended on ALARA for no benefit– by definition waste. Ken Chaplin’s anecdotes, the unnecessary deaths in Chernobyl and Fukushima, the waste not put to better use, irrational fear of radiation and therefore nuclear energy, all make me question the morality of being in the RP business.

    But I rationalize it because I’m nearly vested in a pension:

    1. I’m just helping my employer comply with (ill) regulations. (Bleh, that sounds like “just following orders.”)
    2. Anyway, it’s the Navy’s fault. They thought it wise to make me an ELT thirty years ago at the young impressionable age of 19.
    3. In the future I will be a better, more proactive advocate for nuclear energy.

    So steeped in truth is Mr. Allison’s essay that this from the penultimate paragraph did not annoy me:

    “In all probability climate change is upon us and the chances that civilisation will survive it are falling.”

    At first I thought he pulled a Suzi Hobbes and, “Well, he just lost half his readers.” Then I realized the simple genious of that– he didn’t specify CAGW due to CO2, just that “climate change is upon us.” My one quibble in the way he said it was qualifying with “in all probability.” No, climate change is definitely happening. It always has. What would be surprising is if it wasn’t. Also, he specifies “civilisation” (as we know it I presume) and not “humanity.” Humanity has survived all sorts of climate changes.

    Reply
    • Rod Adams says

      January 6, 2013 at 3:55 PM

      @Reese

      It is civilization, specifically our enormous installed base of buildings, farms, ports, roads and other forms of infrastructure, that concerns me. Why keep pursuing a huge experiment in hopes that the scientists who study this stuff have – perhaps – been guilty of a bit of overstatement?

      Reply
  5. tt23 says

    January 7, 2013 at 1:44 PM

    Wade should get it published somewhere, so we can cite it 🙂

    –tt23

    Reply
  6. JimHopf says

    January 7, 2013 at 8:39 PM

    Check this out:

    http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/the-secret-to-longevity-wine-and-radioactivity/9560?tag=nl.e660&s_cid=e660

    We finally have a pitch that will definintely resonate with the public!!

    Additional radiation exposure = sex at 90!

    (forgive me)

    Reply

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