Word: gofman
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...early 1960s, as the first director of the biomedical-research arm of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, physicist John Gofman, who had helped develop the atom bomb, was asked to look into the health effects of ionizing radiation. His conclusion--that the risk from low levels of exposure was 20 times as high as stated by the government--enraged the Atomic Energy Commission, which unsuccessfully tried to stop Gofman and colleague Arthur Tamplin from publishing the data. Suddenly an industry pariah and a reluctant "father" of the antinuclear movement, Gofman went on to found the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility...
...Irrevy" exposes how the pro-nuclear forces shape the debate about atomic energy. Gofman's chief strength is his ability to penetrate to the core of an issue through barriers of scientific and judicial jargon. He points out that concentration on the dilemma of waste disposal distracts the public's attention from the equally insoluble and more immediate problem of radiation leakage throughout the nuclear fuel cycle, from mine to mill to reactor. He assails an emphasis on energy conservation through onerous consumer restraint. He says far larger gains are possible from introduction of energy-efficient design to construction...
Perhaps most controversially, Gofman advocates "bringing home the Nuremberg Principles." Death spread by nuclear power strikes him as murder of a civilian population, fitting the Nuremberg definition of crimes against humanity. The Nuremberg statement that "Crimes against international law are committed by men, not abstract entities" would therefore open legions of scientists, bureaucrats and others to prosecution. The more practical converse of his view is that citizens who withhold taxes, trespass on reactor sites or otherwise resist nuclear power are entitled to present juries with the reasons for their civil disobedience--a line of defense judges disallow...
Since the publication of his book, Gofman has brought his concept of nuclear "murder" to the trial of protestors who scaled a fence at the Rancho Seco plant in California. Swayed by Gofman's testimony, the jury acquitted one defendant on the grounds that he had reason to believe his crime was necessary to prevent a substantial and immediate danger to life and property...
...Irrevy" affirms the antinuclear slogan "Question Authority" with a convincing fusion of scientific insight and moral outrage. It is true Gofman's ideas about "privilege-elites"--occasionally sends him flying off on odd tangents outside his expertise. These can be provocative, like his argument, in the form of a logical proof, that nuclear war is inevitable. Or they can be simply naive, like his call for slashing the size of government in favor of personal generosity and an ill-defined international "justice movement." But one need not accept all Gofman's opinions to leave his book with a terrible...