Reflection

Though, spring term at Portland State University has concluded, the terms of the workers’ and my interest in the controversy has only just begun. I have learned so much through the creation of this blog that I have decided to continue to follow the issue the best I can, time and personal situation allowing.

I can not guarantee daily or weekly posts, however I do intend to research online and in other mediums the few news releases depicting the progress of claims filed by nuclear workers. This “black box” created by the government presenting nuclear plants as not being a lead cause of cancer in nuclear workers is ludicrous and a well-designed out PR strategy.

If nuclear plants have nothing to do with cancer, then how is it that so many nuclear workers developed multiple forms of cancers, very unique from the population which they reside among? Perhaps, we may never know, as the allies that the government has far outnumber the allies of the workers’. The hope is that treatment, compensation, and the "truth" is provided to these workers and the public, lets not forget they were working for the US government, as well.

Update


A recent article in the New York Times reported that thousands of nuclear plant workers of Rocky Flats, Denver, Colorado be denied compensation for illnesses, they claimed were caused by radiation exposure. According to the NY Times: “A worker must first file a claim with the Labor Department, a step that brings a lengthy investigation in which scientists from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, through records, research and interviews, determine eligibility by establishing the radiation dose incurred by the worker. If the scientists are unable to determine the dose, the worker may file for “special exposure cohort” status” (The New York Times, June 13, 2007).

This brings the controversy back downstream to where the government originally stood on the issue. The claims filed by thousands of workers around the country, moved the controversy upstream to the development of such plants, their infrastructure, the role of confidential records and so on. The “black box” that the government so closely guards, holds that nuclear plants are safe, even though significant studies show otherwise. The question is not the safety of a plant to avoid repeating Chernobyl, but how safe are those confinded within the metal structure.

This, only time will tell. The controversy has once again settled in favor of the government, we have to wait and see who challenges their black box, re-opens the controversy and provides evidence by taking the controversy back upstream. However, the only way this controversy would be successfully challenged, would be to provide allies that support the workers claims. The government has significant number of allies that are hard to challenge, and thus result in intimidation of even starting a challenge, on part of the workers.