This was the essay question from my Chemistry 101 Class, 50 years ago, when essays were written in Blue Books. I am not writing as a scientist. I was an elementary teacher and would probably have been called a peacenic in some circles. Writings this diary is more from a personal perspective than from a scientific viewpoint, but as an elementary teacher, the science is not intended to guide even young children astray ---- rather this is an attempt to explain in terms all can understand what my experiences with Nuclear Power have been. Mea Culpra.
I was a young child during World War II, but definately remember a news buzz about the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. Am I the only one who remembers the Pink Sky in Southern Indiana on the day newspapers had tall headlines taking about an A-Bomb blast? I was only seven, but I don't ever remember a sky since being the same color. My uncle, in the Navy, sent home photographs, but they were deemed too "horrible" to show the children. I have to admit this only peaked curiousity which has stayed with me.
I visited Oppienheimer's lab a los Alamos and marveled at how primitave it seemed by today's standards. The total effect of nuclear radiation could not possibly have been tested extensively with that meager equipment.
I first became aware of how dangerous exposure to radiation was from a friend of my parents. He had been part of the Navy crew which had gone into Japan a few days
after the second bomb was dropped to end WWII. In a visit to his home 25 years after the war I learned he was now confined to a wheel chair with serious breathing problems. From his original 40 man unit he was one of the two survivors remaining alive of that clean-up crew. This was really my first exposure to the Official Doctrine of Denial. Although our family friend was in and out for all manner of treatments from the Veteran's Hospital in Indianapolis, they would NOT diagonise his "disease" as lung cancer, rather calling it "raditation sickness." But, provided from generous Veteran's Benefits he had a lovely home, free transportation to and from the hospital, and many other "benefits" with the agreement he didn't say much about his experience. This lovely man died a few months later, but not before he built----from his government supplied workshop----a beautiful toy barn for my children complete with carved wooden animals.
A few years later my son graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. His very first job out of college was working for Becthel, helping build the nuclear plant at Palo Verde, Arizona, to provide power for California. In just a few months he was tapped to work as a Rescue Engineer for the clean-up of Three Mile Island. His Palo Verde boss was jealous for such a fresh engineer getting this assignment, but recognized it was Son's early Robotics classes at Purdue that got this job.
This was FIVE YEARS after the cooling tower at Three Mile Island had released radiation particles in the air around Harrisburg. The tower was now deemed cool enough to begin the final clean-up. The immediate emergency had shut-down and flooded the containment building with about 20 feet of water so the damaged core was obscured. Son and his Assoc. worked with Senior engineers to find a way to "see" the damage to the core. One evening Son & Assoc. walked past the local Radio Shack Store in Harrisburg and spied toy remote-contolled submarines in the window. They went in and purchased a couple. The took the toy subs back to their lab at TMI and attacked mega-buck camaras. When these cheap toys and expensive underwater camaras were lowered into the reactor core they could get close enough to observe the damage. A plan could be devised to make repairs. Camera lens had a life of about 4 weeks inside the radiated water around the core, but no one questioned requests for more cameras. Son said the tools they developed to make repairs were like putting a screw driver on the end of a 200 foot garden hose to do the job.
Dressing to go to work was a major chore in-and-of-itself. It took about four hours to prepare, getting into radiation gear. All arm and leg opening were taped over a nuclear hasmet suit. A RAD meter was attached to measure radiation exposure. Remember, life-time accuumation is the standare they had to monitor. The engineers who were in the core daily were limited to less RADs than one-time workers who came in for one specific job. Outside of the plant. even dental x-rays or airport flights had to be accounted for. Son's Jump Team [work team] got a commendation on accomplishing the most work on their four hour journey's into the core. His plan which earned the Jump Team this award came ftom his experience of running on the State Champsionship track team in the 400 meter relay. He had these experienced workers using the same count-off code he used for passing the baton on the track team for each tool going in and out of the damaged core. That way no time was lost and every tool was accounted for.
My college room mate lived in Harrisburg, Pa. so my family visited her family often when Son was as TMI. Both of her daughters had been in an elementary school near the reactor when the cooling tower emitted radiation on the day of the accident at Three Mile Island. Both girls were later diagonised with Cancer of the throat, as were most of the children in their classes. Again the Official Doctrine of Denial was in effect. The parents of all the children were told there was no evidence of a possible radiation exposure connection could be proved.
After these family experiences I was involved in the Anti-Nuclear Peace Movement in the 1980s and 1990s. A Doctor who served with me on our Congregation's Peace Committee invited me to join Physicians for Social Responsibility even though my Doctorate was educational rather than medical. This group was particularlly interested in the effects that would occur if Nuclear Power were to be used as a weapon of war. My Doctor/Friend got interested in this movement while in the Navy while treating patients from a Nuclear Sub accident. With much international interest and pressure the prolification of nuclear weapons began to subside, and so have the voices of nuclear protesters. I owe a special thank-you to my own Senator, Richard Lugar ---- the last sane Republican in Congress. Now the Right-Wingers in his own party are attacking him for his support of the START treaty. If they only knew how much the Nuclear Threat had been lowered by the work of this one man. Condelessa Rice gave us the words that tell us of the peaceful day in Japan, last week when the country began to fall apart: Who could have predicted-----it would be the peaceful use of Atomic Energy that would cause such angst.