STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

The weapons of crisis 15- the hexafluoride was in solid and not gas form,- though hydrolysis of UF6 is theoretically rapid, it is slow in practice, because theoxyfluoride prevents reception of the necessary water molecules,- fluorohydrous acid is therefore released much more slowly than might be feared.Furthermore, being highly soluble, it dissolves in water, and is neutralized byseawater, which is alkaline.On any one of these points, even a highly competent scientist who was not specificallyversed in the question would have every chance of making a mistake, without realizingfor a moment that the classic theoretical references were wrong. When this evaluationfinally became available, several weeks after the shipwreck, it was too late to correctthe general perception of the case by the public and the media (described in thefollowing chapter).Exponential growth of the number of actorsWe were used to seeing the head of the plant, the rescue teams, and localgovernment representatives. Now such an event summons forth dozens ofofficials, agencies, organizations, laboratories, specialists, elected officials,and associations. Local issues become enmeshed in national and internationalones. The world suddenly seems too big, and no one knows the rules of thegame. The conventional networks and frameworks explode under thepressure.At Bhopal, Union Carbide suddenly found itself having to dealsimultaneously with the central Indian government, the Madhya Pradeshauthorities, its Indian subsidiary, the world press, its other subsidiaries, its100,000 employees, the governments of countries in which its group hadplants, its stockholders, consumer associations, experts of all stripes, itsclients, and armies of lawyers. Péter-J. Hargitay's experience (presented herein part two) illustrates the nature of the difficulties. As he noted, "There aresome twenty languages in Europe, and I only speak seven."With Chernobyl, the issue was no longer a reactor and its neighbors, butChernobyl, Kiev, Moscow, Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, California, andon around the globe.Similar reactions come into play in cases of infinitely less gravity. In thecase of the forty-one waste drums from Seveso, all it took was an article inthe popular French magazine Science et Vie to throw some fortyorganizations and six countries into the spotlight. Here again, the splash wasimpressive.Riding a media tidal waveEven in the best cases, emergency plans provide procedures for prudentlyannouncing delicate information. But here, the top blows off the kettle. Thepress may know about an event before the official spokesperson does, whilethe news reaches company headquarters in a radio flash. Everything combinesto make the media primary players in an exceptional situation: CB scannerradios that give them fast, first-hand information; their flair for unusualevents (which can send them off on a trail while officials are still wondering