NEI Nuclear Notes

In the wake of the accident at Fukushima , the world once again got a chance to know Dr. Robert Peter Gale . One of the world's leading authorities on the biological effects of radaition, Dr. Gale first came to prominence in the late 1980s when he coordinated medical and relief efforts for victims of the accident at Chernobyl . And in the wake of Fukushima, the world turned once again to Dr. Gale when it came to rationally gauging the immediate and long-term health effects of the accident in Japan . Perhaps we should be grateful then that Dr. Gale, along with co-author Eric Lax, has just written a new book aimed at demystifying radiation and its potential health effects. Radiation: What It Is. What You Need to Know , was just published by KnopfDoubleday and is available at Amazon.com and bookstores nationwide. Here's a thumbnail review that appeared earlier today in the New York Times : Dr. Gale, a leukemia expert who advised governments in the wake of the nuclear di...

Yesterday, a pair of researchers from Stanford University released a study that projected 130 people, primarily in Japan, will die from cancer over the next 50 years as the result of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.Some observers have already started to weigh in on its merits . This isn't the first study about cancer and Fukushima , and there will certainly be many others. While no one at NEI has had an opportunity to review the study released yesterday in detail, we would point interested parties to an article that was written for the Los Angeles Times by Dr. Robert Peter Gale of Imperial College, London. Dr. Gale has been closely involved in studying the aftermath of the accidents at both Chernobyl and Fukushima: [E]xposures received by Fukushima workers and the public are quite low, including among the 20,000 or more workers decommissioning the facility and the approximately 100,000 evacuees. This doesn't mean there will be no future radiation...

Yesterday, we made sure to note that Dr. Helen Caldicott was set to appear at the University of South Carolina to talk about the health effects of the incident at Fukushima -- all in an effort to point folks to more reliable sources of information on radiation and public health. In today's edition of The State , there's a profile of Caldicott based on an interview that was done before last night's event. Curiously, the reporter didn't attend the lecture in person, but rather interviewed a local anti-nuclear activist about the event after the fact. And there I found an interesting morsel of information that was found encouraging. About 50 people, mostly students, attended the talk, said Clements, a long-time anti-nuclear activist who is now with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. One student challenged some of Caldicott’s assertions, he said. Indeed. In fact, we're hearing that there were some rather tense moments last night, details of which will be revealed...

Over the weekend, I got a note from a friend that Dr. Helen Caldicott is scheduled to give a lecture tonight at the University of South Carolina on the medical implications of Fukushima. A little less than a month ago, Caldicott made a similar appearance in Santa Barbara. At the time, I posted the following information , and given tonight's event, it seemed prudent to reprint it in its entirety. ------------------------------------------------------ A couple of days ago, a friend of mine passed some news onto me that Dr. Helen Caldicott is hitting the lecture circuit again, this time to talk about the health implications of the incident at Fukushima Daiichi. Her next event will take place tonight in Santa Barbara and will be sponsored by the Nuclear Peace Age Foundation. Obviously, this blog has a long history debunking Dr. Caldicott's claims about commercial nuclear energy -- one that extends all the way back to 2005 when we disputed her claims about a USEC uranium enrichmen...

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine passed some news onto me that Dr. Helen Caldicott is hitting the lecture circuit again, this time to talk about the health implications of the incident at Fukushima Daiichi. Her next event will take place tonight in Santa Barbara and will be sponsored by the Nuclear Peace Age Foundation. Obviously, this blog has a long history debunking Dr. Caldicott's claims about commercial nuclear energy -- one that extends all the way back to 2005 when we disputed her claims about a USEC uranium enrichment facility in Kentucky . We don't know what Dr. Caldicott will say tonight. However, when it comes to good science about the health effects of radiation, you'd probably be better off watching some video that was shot earlier this month by the Health Physics Society when they hosted a forum on Fukushima . Click here to watch those videos on our SafetyFirst microsite. One of the individuals you'll see in the videos is Dr. Robert Peter Gale of ...