Too much hysteria over nuclear waste, Utah physicist says

Blaine Howard isn't the kind of man to say I told you so. So when he heard the latest in the long-running controversy regarding locating a nuclear waste facility on Goshute Indian land in Utah's west desert — namely, that a Nuclear Regulatory Commission board did not bow to political and public pressure and scuttle the proposal on the grounds that it is unsafe — he did not get all smug about being right.

But the retired health physicist does admit that, "my reaction was one of a relief."

As I have stated in this column on numerous previous occasions, Howard, who served as the state of Utah's health physicist for 18 years in the 1970s and 1980s and has degrees from Ricks, New York University and BYU, has no personal stake in the business of dumping nuclear waste. Whether or not spent nuclear rods are transported to Utah is not his agenda.

What is his agenda is educating Utahns that it is not dangerous to our health if nuclear waste is transported here.

That and letting us know his belief that a little radiation could actually raise our average life span by a few more years and reduce our risk of contracting cancer.

"It's not that the material they're talking about transporting isn't dangerous if it's not handled properly," says Blaine. "But precautions have been taken to ensure it is safe. The citizens of the state of Utah could not possibly get more than a trivial amount of radiation from the cannisters the way they're packaged. The regulatory agency knows this."

As for that trivial amount of radiation that could get into our air supply, Blaine's educated opinion, after a lifetime immersed in the field, is that it would do us all a lot of good.

He cites a number of statistical studies — one in Taiwan, another in France, another dealing with shipyard workers — that reveal that people exposed to low amounts of radiation have significantly lower mortality rates and cancer rates. In the shipyard case, more than 38,000 workers who dealt regularly with small amounts of radiation were compared with a similar number of workers not in regular contact with nuclear material. Those exposed to the radiation had a mortality rate more than 20 percent lower and a cancer rate 15 percent less.

There are spas in places such as the Austrian Alps, the Czech Republic and the Canadian Rockies where people pay to immerse themselves in increased alpha particles in the belief it will improve their health.

While the days of a Goshute radiation spa may be as far off as a Goshute nuclear dump, it's Blaine's concern that all the hysteria over the transport of things nuclear — not just here in Utah, but throughout the country — is threatening the future of the nuclear energy industry.

"I think that taking care of the storage of spent nuclear fuel is a paramount problem in the public and political view concerning the future of nuclear energy," he says. "I think the important factor is that we have a possibility of losing nuclear power. There haven't been any new reactors built for many years. And if we don't have this nuclear capability then we're more dependent on foreign oil. We have the capability within our own country of being self-sufficient energy-wise. This is why I feel so strongly to get this false idea of a fear of radiation turned around. I just want to eliminate the hysteria.

"It is not right for the citizens of Utah to believe that they will be harmed by the small amounts of radiation which they may receive from any radioactive material coming into the state. The only effect they can expect is less cancer and longer life."

Once again, a card-carrying physicist has told us so.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.