Page - 88 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

first time Ibegan to askwhetherournation’sdevelopmentof this power sourcemay have left something to be desired. I also became painfully aware of how little I knew about commercial nuclear power, and decided to do something about it. By talking with colleagues I was able to identify five other faculty members who were willing to meet once a week at lunch to discuss nuclear power issues and help to educate one another. This lasted about one year. During this period I found my interest in energy issues growing, and once-a-week discussions soon left me frustrated at my ownpace of learning. Thus, I took the next step, whichwas to offer to teachanenergycourse toundergraduates,which Ibegan todo in the fall of 1970. I knowofnobetterway to learn somethingnew than to teacha coursewhereyouhave tokeepaheadofyour students.Shortly thereafter I was asked to serve as a science advisor to a newly founded New England citizens’ group concerned about nuclear power, and I agreed. One thing led to another, and soon Iwas engaged in public debates on nuclear power with utility executives, scientists from Brookhaven NationalLaboratory, and thenuclear engineeringdepartmentofMIT. As my knowledge of nuclear power increased, and as I watched nuclear power become an important political issue at local, state and federal levels in the US and other countries, I came to several conclusions: I amnot anti-nuclear, recognizing its carbon-free and large energy potential, but am sensitive to the concerns that many people have. These include high cost, routine releases of radioactivity from operating plants, shipping of nuclear wastes through populated areas, lack of long-termwaste storage options, the remote but real possibility of accidents, and the potential for nuclear weapons proliferation. Alvin Weinberg, former Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, may have said it best in 1947 when he called nuclear power a ‘Faustian bargain’, defined by the Cultural Dictionary as follows: ‘Faust, in the legend, traded his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge. To ‘strike a Faustian bargain’ is to be willing to sacrifice anything to satisfy a limitless desire for knowledgeor power.’ Clearly, there is a clash of values in our national debate on nuclear power. On the one hand we have advocates who, having looked at US dependence on imported fuels and at declining fossil fuel reserves, see little hope for energy independence and ‘… little long-range hope for the achievement of decent living standards everywhere…’ without broadened Water,Energy, andEnvironment–APrimer88