In late 1957, some kind of an explosion spreading radioactive wastes occurred in a Soviet nuclear weapons plant producing plutonium in the Southern Urals. That is this writer's conviction in a foggy field where everything must be based on rumor and indirect evidence or its absence. The incident was uncovered by Soviet biologist Zhores Medvedev by some masterful detective work based on scientific articles dealing with fish.
Last November, Dan Rather discussed the incident on CBS' 60 Minutes with Medvedev, who is not very knowledgeable in general nuclear matters, and Ralph Nader, a nuclear subilliterate, with no nuclear expert participating. Dan Rather repeatedly called it a nuclear power incident, with Nader getting his antinuclear licks in. There was a flood of protests, to which CBS replied as behooves one of this country's most ardent supporters of censorship: On August 2, they re-broadcast the uncorrected "lie by association."
Well, let us jump to a seemingly unconnected matter, a brilliant book by James E. Oberg Red Star in Orbit (Random House, $12.95), which gives the inside story of Soviet failures and triumphs in space. It is an absorbing, eminently readable, non-scientific story, yet it shows clearly how much learning and hard work lies behind a book like this:
Oberg, a space scientist working for NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, has studied this field, lying beyond his immediate profession, with painstaking thoroughness; he also knows Russian
¾down to fine points like distinguishing sem'¾"seven" from semyorka¾"ol" number seven". [We note incidentally, but with pride, that he has also long been an AtE subscriber.) Contrast this with today's short-cut pseudo-scientists like Lovins, a drop-out without an earned degree, who thinks he has mastered a field because he has picked up a few words of its jargon.Second, this book reports not only the (space) disasters that have happened in the USSR, but also why and how they happened; how health and safety were recklessly sacrificed for politically dictated deadlines; how history is forged and photographs are doctored to make selected scientists or astronauts disappear
¾for reasons that will tell the reader much about the Soviet mentality; how the Soviets treated Sergey Korolev, the slave laborer and genius behind their space program; and much more that gives deep insight into the Soviet system.When Khrushchev was banging his shoe on the table in New York, a Soviet space spectacular was to have been in progress. It never came off because the launch was a disaster in which at least 40, but probably several hundred, workers and dignitaries were burned alive.
Now imagine Dan Rather interviewing Amy Carter on this incident in order to throw doubt on the safety of American airlines; and except for Amy's presumable honesty, you have the making of another CBS documendacity.
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Vol. 9, No. 1
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 9, No. 1 Date: November 23, 2004 12:39 PM Title: Energy Policy
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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