Nuclear reactions: documenting American encounters with nuclear energy

353 Pages·2017·7.674 MB·English

by  Feldman, James W

Weyerhaeuser environmental ClassiCs
Paul S. Sutter, Editor
Weyerhaeuser environmental ClassiCs
Paul S. Sutter, Editor
Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classics are reprinted editions of key works that
explore human relationships with natural environments in all their variety and
complexity. Drawn from many disciplines, they examine how natural systems
affect human communities, how people affect the environments of which they are a
part, and how different cultural conceptions of nature powerfully shape our sense
of the world around us. These are books about the environment that continue to
offer profound insights about the human place in nature.
Making Climate Change History: Man and Nature: Or, Physical
Primary Sources from Global Warming’s Geography as Modified by Human
Past, edited by Joshua P. Howe Action, by George Perkins Marsh
Nuclear Reactions: Documenting A Symbol of Wilderness: Echo Park
American Encounters with Nuclear and the American Conservation
Energy, edited by James W. Feldman Movement, by Mark W. T. Harvey
The Wilderness Writings of Howard Tutira: The Story of a New
Zahniser, edited by Mark Harvey Zealand Sheep Station,
by Herbert Guthrie-Smith
The Environmental Moment: 1968–1972,
edited by David Stradling Mountain Gloom and Mountain
Glory: The Development of the
Reel Nature: America’s Romance with
Aesthetics of the Infinite,
Wildlife on Film, by Gregg Mitman
by Marjorie Hope Nicolson
DDT, Silent Spring, and the Rise
The Great Columbia Plain:
of Environmentalism, edited by
A Historical Geography, 1805–1910,
Thomas R. Dunlap
by Donald W. Meinig
Conservation in the Progressive Era:
Classic Texts, edited by David
Stradling
Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classics is a subseries within Weyerhaeuser Envi-
ronmental Books, under the general editorship of Paul S. Sutter. A complete
listing of the series appears at the end of this book.
NUCLEAR
REACTIONS
Documenting
American Encounters
with Nuclear Energy
edited by
James W. Feldman
university oF Washington Press
Seattle and London
Nuclear Reactions is published with the assistance of a grant from the
Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Endowment, established by the
Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, members of the Weyerhaeuser
family, and Janet and Jack Creighton.
Copyright © 2017 by the University of Washington Press
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Design by Thomas Eykemans
Composed in OFL Sorts Mill Goudy, typeface designed by Barry Schwartz
21 20 19 18 17  5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
university oF Washington Press
www.washington.edu/uwpress
Cataloging information is on file with the Library of Congress
isbn 978-0-295-99962-3
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ansi z39.48–1984. ∞
For
Chris, Sam, and Ben

CONTENTS
Foreword: Postwar America’s Nuclear Paradox,
by Paul S. Sutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Introduction: Nature and the Nuclear Consensus
in Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PART 1 FIRST REACTIONS 21
Leslie Groves, Report on the Trinity Test, 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Harry S. Truman, White House Statement
on the Bombing of Hiroshima, 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Nagasaki Mushroom Cloud, 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Joseph H. Willits, “Social Adjustments
to Atomic Energy,” 1946 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Headline Comics, Atomic Man, 1946 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Arthur H. Compton, “The Atomic Crusade
and Its Social Implications,” 1947 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
H. M. Parker, “Speculations on Long-Range
Waste Disposal Hazards,” 1948 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
General Advisory Committee Reports
on Building the H-Bomb, 1949 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Lewis L. Strauss to Harry S. Truman, 1949 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
PART 2 BUILDING CONSENSUS 57
“National Security Council Resolution 68,” 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Federal Civil Defense Administration, This Is Civil Defense, 1951 . . 65
Federal Civil Defense Administration, Women in
Civil Defense, 1952 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Address before the General Assembly
of the United Nations on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy,” 1953 . . 74
Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation, “What does
Atomic Energy really mean to you?” 1953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Lewis L. Strauss, “My Faith in the Atomic Future,” 1955 . . . . . . . 81
Heinz Haber, The Walt Disney Story of Our Friend the Atom, 1956 . . 86
Bureau of Public Roads, A Preliminary Report
on Highway Needs for Civil Defense, 1956 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Walter Reuther, Atoms for Peace: A Separate Opinion, 1956 . . . . . . 96
PART 3 CHALLENGING CONSENSUS 101
Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein, “The Russell-Einstein
Manifesto,” 1955 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Roger Revelle and Milner B. Schaefer, “General
Considerations Concerning the Ocean as a Receptacle
for Artificially Radioactive Materials,” 1957 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Atomic Energy Commission, Atomic Tests in Nevada, 1957 . . . . . . 111
National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, “We Are Facing
a Danger Unlike Any Danger That Has Ever Existed,” 1957 . . . . . 114
Atomic Energy Commission, Atoms for Peace U.S.A., 1958 . . . . . . 118
Barry Commoner, “The Fallout Problem,” 1958 . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Edward Teller, “The Plowshare Program,” 1959 . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Office of Civil Defense and Mobilization, Fallout Maps, 1959 . . . . 132
Herman Kahn and H. H. Mitchell, The Postattack
Environment, 1961 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Margaret Mead, “Are Shelters the Answer?” 1961 . . . . . . . . . . 140
Women Strike for Peace Milk Campaign, 1961 . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Atomic Energy Commission, Annual Report, 1962 . . . . . . . . . . 149
John F. Kennedy, “Commencement Address
at American University,” 1963 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
David E. Lilienthal, Change, Hope, and the Bomb, 1963 . . . . . . . . . 155
John F. Kennedy, “Address to the American People
on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” 1963 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
PART 4 CONFRONTING PARADOX 163
Glenn T. Seaborg, Environmental Effects of Producing
Electric Power, 1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens Association,
“A Nuclear Energy Gamble,” ca. 1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Lenore Marshall, “The Nuclear Sword of Damocles,” 1971 . . . . . 175
Calvert Cliffs’ Coordinating Committee, Inc., v. United States
Atomic Energy Commission, 1971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
William R. Gould, “The State of the Atomic Industry,” 1974 . . . . 183
Committee on the Present Danger, “Common Sense
and the Common Danger,” 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Ralph W. Deuster, “R for the ‘Back’ of the Cycle,” 1976 . . . . . . 192
x
Leonard Rifas, All-Atomic Comics, 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
David N. Merrill, Nuclear Siting and Licensing Process, 1978 . . . . 198
Helen Caldicott, Nuclear Madness, 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200