1. The New Species of Trouble

2. Sociologist, Kai Erikson
Kai Erikson is an American Sociologist who identified communalities across new challenges posed for global society which pose new and not well understood threats to humanity from toxics in the environment to the unsolved problem posed by what to do with spent nuclear fuel.

3. For this class on Nuclear Environments, we focus on the special fear attached to radiation. The following are key excerpts from his assigned reading.
In “Radiation’s Lingering Dread” Kai Erikson makes three points which are applicable to understating the differing perspectives on Rocky Flats across the three epochs of Rocky Flats, and Hanford in the United States. His perspective helps understand the nuclear power debate.

4. The first general point is that for the victims of radiation, the “all clear” never sounds. Exposure emergencies “violate the rules of plot.” While some have clearly defined beginnings, for the victims, they never end. Radiation contaminates rather than merely damages. Rather than creating damage, radiation pollutes, befouls, and taints. Radiation does not wound by straightforward assault but penetrates indirectly.

5. The second general point with respect to radiation is that there are great differences in the perception of risk between nuclear specialists and the general public. He makes the observation that people can shudder at the threat caused by the Three Mile Island but are more at risk themselves from driving automobiles, eating animal fat, and smoking cigarettes. (Three Mile Island released less than 15 curies)

6. The third general point is to be found in the perceived difference between natural disasters and technological disasters. The ancients of the Planets feared natural disasters such as pestilence, famine, plague, flood, and drought. And technological advances have helped humanity cope with, and minimize, natural disasters which are perceived as “acts of God.”

7. Erikson’s general observations here relevant to Rocky Flats, Hanford and the future of nuclear power, is that technological disasters have clearly grown in number as humans have tested the limits of their competence. Technological disasters such as those which have occurred over the years at Rocky Flats when systems failed, human beings made errors, engines misfired, and designs proved to be faulty in actual operations, to name just a few areas of technological disaster. But in contrast to natural disasters which are thought of as caprices of nature, technological disasters are of human manufacture, and in conception, are preventable. A consequence is that there is a story to tell about them, a moral lesson to be drawn from each of them, and a share of blame to be assigned.

8. The title of the Erikson article, “Radiation’s Lingering Dread” makes his fundamental point that evidence is accumulating that radiation scares humankind in “new and special ways.” Rocky Flats, Hanford, and nuclear power and with them unforeseen technological disasters have certainly scared people in “new and special ways,” and continues to do so.

9. Radiation scares people in new and special ways.
Yes No
I am thinking about it

10. On technological disasters, people assign blame.
Yes No
I am thinking about it

11. Do you expect to experience a major technological disaster in your lifetime?
A. Yes B. No C. I do worry about it

12. Do you expect to experience a major natural disaster in your lifetime?
A. Yes
B. No
C. I do worry about it

13. Fukushima rainwater fiasco October 21, 2013
“The operator of Japan’s wrecked nuclear plant said Monday that rainwater from a weekend storm became contaminated as it collected behind barriers meant to stop radiation leaks. The toxic water overflowed those barriers at several locations, with some of it possibly spilling into the Pacific Ocean.

14. It was the latest in a litany of lapses and aggravations for the problem-plagued cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said water from heavy rain Sunday had accumulated behind foot-high concrete walls that encircle clusters of storage tanks. Tepco built those barriers to contain spills from the storage tanks, a problem that has led to intense public criticism of the company.

15. However, on Sunday the barriers acted as dams to trap the rainwater into unintended ponds. Water levels in 11 of those ponds rose high enough to spill over the barriers, Tepco said. It said some of the spilled water may have flowed down a drainage ditch into the Pacific outside the plant’s artificial harbor.” (The New York Times)

16. Is this human error by Tepco?
Yes No

17. Is this technological error?
Yes No

18. Do you know enough to assign blame?
A. Yes
B. No