Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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a 1978 study prepared for the Swedish Energy Commission, I pointed out
that long-term health consequences from an accident in Sweden would appear in
other countries. ["A Study of Some of the Consequences of Hypothetical
Reactor Accidents at Barseback," Swedish Energy Commission, Stockholm, DS I
1978:3, 1978. J Similarly, in a 1980 report to the U.S. Council on
Environmental Quality, I stated that "emergency planning may require
cooperation between different states and, in some cases, cooperation with
Canada or Mexico."
8) The Audubon Energy Plan , National Audubon Society, 1984.
9} 50,000 respiratory- related deaths per year have been correlated with
sulphur air pollution, much of which comes from coal-burning electricity
plants. Even when coal plants are equipped with scrubbers, some sulphur
escapes. [For references to sulphur air pollution and mortality, see, Jan
Beyea, G. Steve Jordan, "Implications for Mortality of Weakening the Clean Air
Act," National Audubon Society, EPAD Report 18, May 1982.]
As is well known, coal-buming plants are major contributors to acid
rain. Less appreciated is the fact that use of coal adds significant amounts
of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, threatening to change the climate of the
entire planet.
10) Jan Beyea, "Emergency Planning for Reactor Accidents," Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists , 56, December 1980, p. 40.
11) Frank von Hippel, "The NRC and Thyroid Protect ion- -One Excuse After
Another," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , October 1980, p. 44.
12) See for instance, A.M. Weinberg, I Spiewak, "Inherently Safe Reactors and
a Second Nuclear Era," Science, 224, 1598-1402 (1984). See also, J. L.
Dooley, R. Philip Hammond, "Build Nuclear Plants that Don't Need Evacuation
Plans," Wall Street Journal, June 12, 1986.