By the time we settled in Bonn, the Federal German authorities proffered advice that conflicted with that of the Bavarian state government, which contradicted the pronouncements of municipal officials in Munich. Then there are those without personal vehicles. You may recall how well the car-less fared during Hurricane Katrina.
8. The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons. The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.
Advanced degrees and years of experience may count as scientific qualifications, but they don't guarantee wise policy. Ask anyone whose boss has a doctorate. Just because we can squeeze electricity from enriched uranium doesn't mean we ought to.
"All stages of the experiment." This should include, one would think, the waste stage. The best scientifically qualified persons in the US can do is to leave spent fuel rods in onsite cooling ponds, or in dry cask storage (also onsite). Even ardent backers of nuclear power do not believe this a sustainable solution.
9. During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible.
While some materials emit radiation forever, the nuclear generation of electricity need not be. My friend, political scientist Edward Woodhouse, describes atomic power as "reversible." Not like that jacket of yours, but rather in the sense of no longer doing it. We can stop.
All it takes is a huge, diverse, creative social movement to bring sufficient pressure to bear on decision-makers. This is how, with few exceptions, individual plants were defeated or shut down in the United States. Or you could get lucky and have a governor like Andrew Cuomo who, surprisingly, opposes the relicensing of Indian Point. It's unclear why he doesn't oppose the other three nuclear plants in upstate New York.
10. During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe, in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required of him that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.
The dozens of scientists, engineers and technicians who came forward over the years with inside knowledge of dangerous operating conditions, shoddy maintenance or design flaws, were, likely without knowing it, following Directive Ten. None of these courageous people went public out of self-interest. To the contrary, the personal and professional hazards of whistleblowing are well known. The problem for the rest of us is that despite the devastating and documented claims of whistleblowers, the plants remain open.
Beyond Nuclear Power
The application of the Nuremburg Code did not uncover all the defects of atomic power. At least two serious problems remain. The first is nuclear weapons proliferation. The world collectively decided in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970 that fewer nuclear weapons in the hands of fewer countries is superior to the alternatives. The Treaty rests on three pillars: non-proliferation; disarmament; and the peaceful use of nuclear power.
The non-proliferation pillar is relatively successful. Only three states--India, Pakistan and North Korea--developed nuclear weapons since 1970. Israel likely had the Bomb by the late sixties, according to whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, but refuses to admit it has the Bomb. Nor has Israel signed the NPT.
The disarmament pillar, aimed at existing nuclear weapons states? A dismal failure until the INF Treaty of 1987, the first disarmament agreement of the Nuclear Age. The START Treaties reduced the number of strategic nuclear weapons by over 80%. Advocates for "minimum deterrence" claim each power could deter the other (and third parties) with as few as two or three hundred strategic weapons. Much work, including eliminating tactical nuclear weapons, remains.
The peaceful use pillar is ridiculous if highly dangerous. In the sixties and seventies, Soviet and American policymakers proposed to use nuclear weapons for natural gas exploitation, river course redirection, canal and harbor construction, and other wacky projects. The US detonated twenty-eight large bombs in the fruitless effort to find some practical use for the things; the Soviets, over two hundred. The Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty of 1976 limited but did not outlaw the practice. No state uses nuclear explosions for "peaceful" purposes today.
It's difficult, if not impossible, to develop nuclear weapons without research reactors nearly identical to those that generate electricity. A state with nuclear power that wanted nuclear weapons is afforded a considerable head start. This may be the greatest danger posed by the peaceful use pillar of the NPT, and by the workings of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the World Health Organization (yes, even WHO has a nuclear charge).
If you believe that Iran, an NPT signatory, is surreptitiously developing nuclear weapons, then you must wonder about the peaceful use pillar. It provides cover for covert programs. If nuclear power were banned, it would be far more difficult for Iran or any other non-nuclear weapons state to build a bomb.
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