Carnival of Nuclear Energy 75

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 75 is up at the Atomic Power Review.

Pop Atomic (Suzanne Hobbs) reflects on a recent energy debate with model/actress Christie Brinkley. Unfortunately, celebrities are effectively reaching the public with false information about nuclear energy on a large scale. She concludes that celebrity anti-nuclear activism is a real issue that should be addressed by the nuclear industry.

Christie Brinkley is a board member of The Radiation and Public Health Project. She is more than a common place nuclear hating celebrity, and making very serious allegations against the nuclear power industry. They charge that nuclear plants cause
1) high child cancer rates and
2) high levels in baby teeth of Strontium-90 known to cause cancer.

The Radiation and Public Health Project is a federally tax exempt, “scientific”, non-profit organization.

Although the exchange has since been deleted, Joe Mangano, the Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project asked me [Suzanne] if I knew of any studies that could prove otherwise, saying something to the tune of “I read all of the literature, and no such studies exist.”

I provided links to the Committee of the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) and the Childhood Cancer and Nuclear Power Plants Switzerland (CANUPIS) studies, both of which were released this year. I explained that both of these studies concluded that there is no link between increased childhood cancer rates and nuclear power plants.

Mr. Mangano directed me to some of the research done by his organization. What I found was deeply disturbing. Through something called the “Tooth Fairy Project” the Radiation and Public Health Project has collected nearly 5,000 baby teeth from Americans on a voluntary basis to test for Strontium-90. They have concluded from this “experiment” that there are increased cancer risks near nuclear plants, and the American Cancer Society, the National Institues of Health, the National Cancer Institute and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the above mentioned studies are all incorrect.

The more research I did on the “Tooth Fairy Project” the more I learned about it’s controversial history, questionable research methods, and inaccurate results. In fact, the Nuclear Energy Institute has a very thorough report on the failings of this project.

Nextbigfuture provided two articles :
Amory Lovins wrong before, wrong now and pushing a plan for American Poverty

How wrong and misleading can someone be and yet remain an influential technical expert ?

If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks