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From: mcgeer%ji@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU (Rick McGeer)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: plutonium
Message-ID: <8603031823.AA11950@ji.berkeley.edu>
Date: Mon, 3-Mar-86 13:23:44 EST
Article-I.D.: ji.8603031823.AA11950
Posted: Mon Mar  3 13:23:44 1986
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	Calling The Nation a respected journal is more than a little dicey...
there are some of us who give The Nation about as much credence as Pravda.
Whatever your feelings about The Nation, I'm sure you'll admit that it is
hardly a technically-literate publication.

	Anyway, NOBODY said that "'Nobody has ever died from atmospheric
releases of plutonium'"; or "'it's safe to dump it in the ocean'".  What
people DID say, and which you DID NOT, was that the risks from plutonium,
or any other material can be measured and have been measured.  Indeed,
it is not true that "few studies have been done since the '50's due to lack
of government interest"; the subject has been extensively studied and
debated.  Indeed, one correspondent in the last few days gave precise
figures from a 1977 text on the subject.  Further figures can be found in
Petr Beckmann's "The Health Hazards of Not Going Nuclear" or Michio Kazuo's
"Nuclear Power: Both Sides".


						-- Rick.