Publication Laka-library:
Nuclear power: technical bases for ethical concern (1975)
| Author | Amory Lovins |
| Date | March 1975 |
| Classification | 6.01.0.00/209 (GENERAL) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
NUCLEAR POWER: TECHNICAL BASES FOR ETHICAL CONCERN AMORY B LOVINS INTRODUCTION A substantial and rapidly growing body of competent technical opinion now shares the Puqwash Conference's view (1) that The as yet unsolved problem of waste management and the possibly unsolvable (in an absolute sense) problems of catastrophic releases of radioactivity and diversion of bomb grade material combine to create grave and justified misgivings about the vast increase in the use of nuclear power that has been widely predicted. The wisdom of such an increase must at the present time be seriously questioned. The reasoning that has led many distinguished scientists to such conclusions-- contrary to those of many other equally competent scientists--appears not to be well understood amongst advocates of civilian nuclear fission technology. This is partly because the reasoning is as much ethical as technical in substance, and hence may appear merely polemical to those who disagree with it, but partly also because it has seldom been summarized for technical persons in their own idiom. This paper attempts such a summary--necessarily brief, hence incomplete and somewhat conclusory, and not always able to treat issues at a length commensurate with their relative importance. It seeks to explore broad issues (2) rather than to treat all technical details with sophistication and rigour, though references giving fuller treatments of specific points are noted throughout. Reliance mainly on us sources and examples is a result of nearly unique local circumstances-independent and active critical expertise, a tradition of adversarial technical evaluation, and the operation of the Freedom of Information Act--and does not imply that the issues here framed are necessarily different in countries where these conditions are lacking or where the style of national discussion and decision is unlike that of the USA.
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