Radioactive Rivers

[Steelhead]

Based on the truckloads of documents I gained from more than 50 DOD/DOE
FOIA requests over the past 7 years, there's really not that much from
which to track Nobert's adventures with the atom. Two contracts, most of
the text redacted in typical DOE fashion. Nevertheless, it seems clear that
Wiener was probably enticed to work for Hanford on two false promises: 1.
That some aspects of the Hanford Nuclear project would benefit medical
research; 2. That the project would lead to that elusive wet-dream of the
perpetual Dynamo crowd: the fusion reactor. To this day, these remain the
promises of the madmen at Hanford, who now want to import Russian uranium
in order to reignite Hanford 3.

Even so: suffice it to say that Wiener's understanding of the mechanics of
nuclear reactors--downplayed by his defenders--was certainly sophisticated
enough to realize the following:

1) The extraction of uranium from Utah, Montana, and Wyoming for use in
nuclear power plants was a lethal endeavor for the uranium miners (mainly
Mormon, so who gives a damn, right?) and nearby (by that I mean within a
couple hundred miles) residents, mainly Indians--who, yes, no doubt brought
this curse on themselves because for centuries they had zealously mined
pumice in the Jemez. (cf., American Ground Zero and Refuge)

2) The operation of the nuclear plants at Hanford was dangerous for workers
and nearby residents--the radioactive clouds from Hanford wafted over
Portland, Spokane, Missoula, Boise, Tacoma, and Seattle. These people--and
1000s of others at places like Rocky Flats, CO and Atomic Ciy, Idaho--were
the unsuspecting victims of State-sponsored experiments with nuclear power.
This I believe constitutes a violation of the Nuremberg Code's requirement
for informed consent.

3) The by-products of nonfusion nuclear energy generation (ie.,
weapon-grade plutonium, contaminated cooling waters flushed into the
Columbia, and spent fuel rods) were deadly and would remain deadly for
hundreds, even thousands, of years with no safe place to dispose of them,
although again Indian lands would quite properly, I guess, be sought out as
the burial grounds for this glowing mess.

For more on Wiener and these matters you'll just have to wait until my book
on Hanford is published in the spring of '98: Radioactive River: The
Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the Destruction of the Columbia, Essential
Books, Washington DC.


Steelhead

Although I tend to find myself agreeing, almost reflexively, with most of
what David C. sez (perhaps it is the crystalline lucidity of his prose), to
say Wiener was not a scientist is bizarre. Math is an art and not a
science? I always assumed that the SHROUD/SHOCK section of V. was a step
into Dr. Norbert's lab.