Word: space
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Besides recognizing the obvious threats to the environment and human life, the committee also noted that nuclear satellites would speed up the militarization of space. There seems to be little, if any, civilian use for nuclear power in orbit--it is too dangerous and too expensive...
...study into the possible dangers of sending a nuclear reactor into orbit. Steven Aftergood, who heads the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a public interest group that concentrates on nuclear policy issues, knew that there was a joint DOE-SDI-NASA project to develop the SP-100, a space-based nuclear reactor. The SP-100 is in its final design stages, and a prototype is to be constructed in the next few years; deployment is tentatively scheduled for the mid- or late-1990s. Aftergood requested the DOE study through the Freedom of Information Act, but his request was turned down...
...study, "Safety Assessment for Space Reactors," included a discussion of what would happen if a one-megawatt thermal nuclear reactor was to reenter the atmosphere immediately after 10 years of continuous output. The report read: "although not specifically calculated, the number of fatalities for reentry at time of shutdown or during operation would be 30,000-50,000." Translated from military-industrial- speak, this means that if the worst case scenario occurs, 30-50,000 people would be killed worldwide...
...only person concerned about these dangers. In May of last year, a joint Soviet-American committee of scientists presented a proposal calling for a ban on nuclear reactors in earth orbit. The committee included Roald Sagdeev, a close adviser to Gorbachev and the leader of the U.S.S.R.'s space program, and a group from the Federation of American Scientists...
...United Way, the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society serve vast needs and do great good, they are to charity what GM is to industry. Charity too needs its entrepreneurs, dreaming on a different scale, and perhaps genius ripens most fruitfully in a free and private space. That may explain why 105,000 new service organizations were born between 1982 and 1987. "Volunteers are now expected to solve problems," says Jerri Spoehel of the Volunteer Center of San Fernando Valley, Calif., "not just stuff envelopes...