Curtis Travis - Health Risks Of Energy Technologies

First published in 1983 by Westview Press

Published in 2021 by Routledge

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Copyright 1983 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 82-61813

ISBN 0-86531-520-5

ISBN 13: 978-0-3670-1965-5 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-3671-6952-7 (pbk)

DOI: 10.4324/9780429049514

Public apprehension about nuclear power has contributed to the virtual halt in licensing and construction of nuclear reactors while continued reliance on coal-fired power plants has raised concern about the occupational safety of workers and the risks posed by increasing air pollution. The authors of this volume examine occupational, public health, and environmental risks of the coal fuel cycle, the nuclear fuel cycle, and unconventional energy technologies. They also explore in detail the relationship between energy economics and risk analysis, assess the problems of applying traditional cost-benefit analysis to long-term environmental problems (such as global carbon dioxide levels), and consider questions about the publics perception and acceptance of risk.

The book includes an examination of the global risks associated with current and proposed levels of energy production and consumption from all major sources. Perhaps the most uncertain of the risks associated with energy technologies, these global risks are also among the most important; they affect relationships among nations and may thus have a direct impact on the probability of war.

The AAAS Selected Symposia Series was begun in 1977 to provide a means for more permanently recording and more widely disseminating some of the valuable material which is discussed at the AAAS Annual National Meetings. The volumes in this Series are based on symposia held at the Meetings which address topics of current and continuing significance, both within and among the sciences, and in the areas in which science and technology impact on public policy. The Series format is designed to provide for rapid dissemination of information, so the papers are not typeset but are reproduced directly from the camera-copy submitted by the authors. The papers are organized and edited by the symposium arrangers who then become the editors of the various volumes. Most papers published in this Series are original contributions which have not been previously published, although in some cases additional papers from other sources have been added by an editor to provide a more comprehensive view of a particular topic. Symposia may be reports of new research or reviews of established work, particularly work of an interdisciplinary nature, since the AAAS Annual Meetings typically embrace the full range of the sciences and their societal implications.

WILLIAM D. CAREY

Executive Officer

American Association for

the Advancement of Science