Nuclear energy is a paradoxical topic. Shocking misconceptions are broadly accepted by the public. Numerous publications, presenting the technical and environmental facts in a form intended for the layman, have been prepared under the supervision of the most knowledgeable subject–matter experts. (You can find some of them here.) And yet, few people bother to read them.
Perhaps this is because they have not been given reason to. The ordinary person cares most about, and most readily understands, the social aspects of any question. And these aspects, central though they are to any human activity, have not been given the same thorough attention by those who best understand nuclear energy. In the records of conferences, and the writings of pioneers such as Glenn Seaborg, Homi Bhabha, Bennett Lewis, and Alvin Weinberg, we find the serious consideration and lively debate that these matters deserve — but only the most distant and imperfect echoes of this have reached the public. Charlatans and bigots have not been slow to exploit the opening thus left.
Whatever the cause, we find ourselves awash in anti–nuclear propaganda. Journalists and politicians, abdicating the public trust, make no effort at understanding either the facts or the questions at issue. Instead, they accept the claim of the anti–nuclear campaigners to occupy the moral high ground, and then repeat uncritically whatever else they have to say. The campaigners in turn do not trouble themselves over facts or even self–consistency — why should they, when they stand above criticism?
No surprise, then, that the prevailing opinions regarding atomic energy consist largely of
- egregious distortions of fact ;
- wholesale fabrications ; and (quite often)
- nonsense to which no clear meaning can be assigned.
Counter–propaganda is a largely self–defeating enterprise : rebutting a claim, when the person making it does not care whether it is sense or gibberish, only lends it visibility and legitimacy. Furthermore, claims of this kind can be made and spread more rapidly than anyone concerned with reality can address them. Nor will efforts to educate people regarding the science and technology of nuclear energy suffice to address the problem.
Rather, we must concern ourselves with standing up for, and as far as possible spreading, an unashamedly pro–atomic viewpoint. When people are taken aback, then we have an opportunity to confront them with the facts which support our position.
These booklets are meant as an aid to such efforts. They can be handed out at events or from display tables, or slipped into book–exchange boxes, or distributed in any number of ways.
Inaugural Number (2023 December)
Number Two (2024 June)
PDFs formatted for reading and for printing can be found on the pages for the individual numbers, along with notes, citations, and other supporting materials.
