Nuclear Power and Public Policy: The Social and Ethical Problems of Fission Technology

190 Pages·1983·7.649 MB·English

by  K. S. Shrader-Frechette (auth.)

Nuclear Power and Public Policy
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A PALLAS PAPERBACK / 15
Nuclear Power
and
Public Policy
The Social and Ethical Problems of Fission Technology
by
K. S. Shrader-Frechette
University of Louisville, Louisville, U.S.A.
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paperbackS
D. Reidel Publishing Company
Dordrecht : Holland / Boston: U.S.A.
London: England
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Shrader-Frechette, K. S. 1944-
Nuclear power and public policy.
Includes' bibliographical references and index.
1. Atomic energy industries-United States. 2. Atomic energy-Social
aspects-United States. 3. Atomic energy-Moral and religious aspects-United
States. 4. Atomic power-Law and legislation-United States. 5. Uability for
nuclear damages-United States. I. Title.
HD9698.U52S54 338.4'762131256'0973 79-27676
ISBN-13: 978-90-277-1513-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-9563-1
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-9563-1
Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company,
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Also published in 1980 in hardbound edition.
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For Maurice
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter One: Nuclear Technology 6
1. The History of Nuclear Energy 7
2. Government Regulation of Atomic Power 10
3. Fission Generation of Electricity 12
4. Ethical Problems Raised by Nuclear Technology 18
Notes 20
Chapter Two: Reactor Emissions and Equal Protection 25
1. The Controversy over Low-Level Radiation 25
2. Federal Radiation Standards 29
3. Ethical Problems of Radiation Policy 30
3.1. Adherence to the Principle of Utility 31
3.2. Violations of Equal Rights 34
3.3. Confusing What Is Normal with What Is Moral 35
3.4. Failure To Obtain Disinterested Monitoring 37
3.5. Confusing Objective and Subjective Morality 38
3.6. Inconsistent Application of Federal Preemption 39
4. Conclusion 43
Notes 44
viii Table of Contents
Chapter Three: Nuclear Wastes and the Argument from Igno
rance 49
1. The Social and Economic Costs of Storing Radio-
active Wastes 50
2. Philosophical Errors in Analyses of the Waste Prob-
lem 53
2.1. Epistemological Difficulties 54
2.1.1. The Argument from Ignorance 55
2.1.2. Ignoring Monies Budgeted for US Waste
Storage 57
2.1.3. The Consequences of Assuming that Nu-
clear Electricity Is Inexpensive 59
2.2. Ethical Difficulties 60
2.2.1. Violations of Equity 61
2.2.2. The Preclusion of Rational Choice 62
2.2.3. The Acceleration of Social Costs 65
3. Conclusion 67
Notes 68
Chapter Four: Core Melt Catastrophe and Due Process 73
1. The Price-Anderson Act 74
2. Philosophical Difficulties in the Price-Anderson Act 77
2.1. Logical Problems with Public Policy Governing
Liability 78
2.1.1. Inconsistency between Damage Estimates
and Liability Limits 78
2.1.2. Incompatibility with the Energy Reor-
ganization Act 81
2.2. Methodological Problems with Assessments of
Safety 82
2.2.1. Mathematical Assumptions Underlying
Accident Probabilities 83
Table of Contents ix
2.2.2. Suppression of Data Regarding Nuclear
Hazards 85
2.2.3. The Reliability of the Emergency Core
Cooling System 86
2.2.4. Assumptions of Near-Complete Evacua-
tion 87
2.3. Ethical Problems in the Price-Anderson Act 89
2.3.1. The Assumption That Nuclear Power Is
Only a Technological Issue 89
2.3.2. Utilitarian Distributions of Nuclear Costs
and Benefits 94
2.3.3. The Threshold Clause and the Argument
from Ignorance 95
3. Conclusion 99
Notes 100
Chapter Five: Nuclear Economics and the Problem of
Externalities 108
1. The Problem of Externalities 108
1.1. The Failure To Assess Externalities 109
1.2. Partially-Compensated and Uncompensated Ex-
ternalities 112
2. Partially-Compensated Externalities of the Nuclear
Fuel Cycle 113
2.1. The Risk of Core Melt 113
2.2. The Hazards of Low-Level Radiation 115
3. The Consequences of the Failure To Compensate 119
3.1. Less Responsible Industry Decision-Making 119
3.2. The Misallocation of Resources 120
3.3. The Promotion of Doubtful Assumptions Re-
garding Economic Growth 123
3.4. The Misrepresentation of Energy Choices 125
x Table ofC ontents
4. The Consequences of Recognizing Amenity Rights 126
5. Conclusion 128
Notes 128
Chapter Six: Nuclear Safety and the Naturalistic Fallacy 135
1. The Naturalistic Fallacy 135
1.1. Three Species of Error 136
1.2. The Significance of the Fallacy 138
2. Commissions of the Fallacy in Government Studies
of Nuclear Power 139
2.1. The Argument Based on Probability of a Core
Melt 140
2.1.1. Low Probability of Catastrophe as a
Sufficient Condition for Acceptable
Risks 141
2.1 .2. What Is Normal as a Criterion for What
Is Moral 143
2.2. The Argument Based on Other Probable Acci-
dent Risks 144
2.2.1. Consistency as a Sufficient Condition for
Acceptable Judgments 145
2.2.2. The Comparability of Voluntari1y
Chosen and Involuntarily-Imposed Risks 145
2.3. The Argument Based on Magnitude of Accident
Consequences 147
2.3.1. The Moral Acceptability of 'Statistically
Insignificant' NUjllbers of Induced
Deaths 148
2.3.2. The Utilitarian Assumptions of the
Argument 149
2.3.3. What Is Normal as a Criterion for What
Is Moral 150
Table of Contents xi
3. The Consequences to Public Policy 151
3.1. Violations of Equity and Acceptance of the
Status Quo 152
3.2. Denial of Citizens' Roles in Policy-Making 153
4. New Directions for Technology and Public Policy 156
Notes 158
Name Index 168
Subject Index 172