ML19343B700

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ML19343B700
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. FREDERICKS. CARNEY An Ethical Analysis of Nuclear Power Energy decisions pose dilemma: involving ecological, political, economic and even psychological factors. but even when ethical considerations are isolated, limited nuclear development is acceptable Two and-a-half years ago President Caner of nuclear power, but also of energy m gen.

ment of hean w Yet this rather ad-obsened that "there is no duemma more eral, the present state of ethical analysis has vanced level of analysis in bioethics has not difficult to resolve than that cotmected not yet reached the level of matunty we always prevaded. As recently as 15 or 3 with the use of nuclear power. Many coun-have some right to expect. Moral claims years ago ethical immatunty and irrespon-tnes," he said, "see nuclear power as the about the production, distnbution and nble literature often dominated the public only real opporturury, at least in this cen-conservation of energy that have thus far disc'2ssion of highly complex moral prob-tury, to reduce the dependence of their eco-dominated the public discussion are often lems in medacme. Recent and substannal nomic well-being on fore:gn od." He went very oce-sided, or naive or crude dissmses progress in bioettues gives reason to believe on to say that "the Uruted States, by con-for the advancement of self-interest or ill-that good ethical theory can be applied, trast, has a major domestic source-coal-conceived a' tempts to impose some highly jomtly with the contnbutions of other but its use is not mthout penaltics, and our regimented utopia upon our society. As discplines, to perplexmg pracucal prob.

pians also call for the use of nuclear power George Bernard Shaw once observed, lems confrontit.y our socety. Let us hope as a share in our energy producuon."

some people think they are bems moral that we are also on the threshold of a These earlier words of our President seem when they are only being uncomfortable-similar favorable development in the area equally fliting today, especially those per-and, we might add, gratuitously inflicting of energy ethics.

tairung to the very great difficulty we ex-their discomfort upon others.

If such a development is to occur,it will penence in attempting to resol <e the dile:n-The present immatunty of the ethical involve the interrelaung of wious types of ma about the role of nuclear energy in the discussion of energy matters is not a neces.

fact situations in energy, as was done m generauon of elecmcity, sary condition of applied ethics. There are medicine, with the central moral concepts Among the components of this dilemma other areas in which ethical discussion has and traditions of Our Western hentage, or are ethical considerations. Other com-become weil advanced. I call your atten-what Matthew Arnold called "the best ponents melude considerations of science, tion, for example, to the ethics of mediane, which has been thought and said in the technology, econormes, politics, law and or what is more commonly known today as world." And it cannot be the accomplish-(especially since the accident at Three Mile bioettucs. In that field the concepts and ment merely of professional ethiests, sit-Islacc) social psychology. These vaned lines of argument are weil developed, the ting down in a comer somewhere and components are intncately interwoven with literature, for the most part, is lughly re-thinking about the problems. Rather it will each other m the actual assessments we are sponsible both to the fact situation and to come about only through a sustained and ca!!ed to make about nuclear power, so the moral tradition of our Western esviliza.

growmg conversation on a nauonal and much so that it is often difficult, if not im-tion, the discussion is well def'med and rig.

even international !cvel in which scenusts possible, to address any one component in orous, and the outcome is *ufficiently de-and engmeers, lawyers and economssts, isolauon from the others. For example, sening of respect that it has become an in.

Icaders of business and government and whether we should locate a nuclear power cressmg part of the professional canons of public interest groups, as well as philoso-plant near a geological fault line, and if so acceptable medical practice or of govern-phers and theologians. have appropnate how near, involves considerations frcm all ment statutes and regulations. Consider, by roles to play.

of these components. Nevertheless, in or-way of illustration, the extensive and For this essay, however, in the absence der to exarnme the issues involved in any thoughtful contributions bioethics has of such a development I must make do with one of them-whether economics or poli-made to our assessment of nontherapeutic what is available. No distmguished body of tics or whatever-it is often necessary to expenmentation on human persons. Or of ethical !iterature focused on energy can be called on. No report of the present state.cf isolate that component as much as possible the ethical contributions involved in the disciplined moral analysis ofqiruct:larh-and to focus attention upon it, even to the macroanalysis of whether the Federal partial disregard of the others. This is what Government should use some of its lirruted ptoblems in energy can be made. Na shotilN%

I intend to do in focusms attention upon resources to brms it about that a new and dets of those who have already made sub-the ethical component in assessments of expensive high technology therapy, such as stantialcontnbutions to an ongoing discus -

nuclear power.

the implantmg of a completely artific a!

sion of the ethics of nuclear-power are.

It is unfortunate that not only in matters heart, becomes a real option in the treat.

available to stand on. SET sha!! draw upon

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the general tradiuon of ethical theory, and other veue? Is it like happiness or human their safety record and prevent the death of focus my attenuon on the question,"What excellence? Both of these, I think you wdl many persons every yur. Why do we not does it mean to thmk ethicaDy in matters of agree, are intnnsically good. Surely safety do so? Because we are also committed to nuclear power?"

is not this kind of value or state of affairs other values that make demands upon our In so domg. I could organize my com-intnnsicauy worthwhile in itself. Rather we resources, such as the educauon of our ments around the three basic e!ements of vahae saferv tucause of some other values children, and we are unmlling to maze ab-ethscal analysis, namely, values, obliga-t%fety serves. Thus it is an intrumental solute the sasing of human lives at the pnce tions and moral character or virtue. Values value, not an intnnsic value. But what of the impovenshment of human minds.

respond to the quesuon, "What objects or values does safety serve, for the sake of We know that the mining of coal causes states of affairs are good or bad, and which w hich we rightly esteem it? The chief one is os er a thousand deaths every year, by acci.

are to be preferred to others?"; oblisauons the intnnsic value of human ife. We are dent and d.sease, and yet we do not refrain to the question, "What morally ought to concerned about the safety of nuclear reac-from buyms and burning coal. Why? Be-be done?"; and characer to the quescon, tors because we attach great value to cause the burnmg of coal serves a number "What qualities or dispostuons of persons human lives that might be destroyed or of values assocated with the heatmg of or, by extension, of socety, are commend-damaged by them. If you have any doubt ho nes and offices, the operation of in-able or reprenensible?" These three ele-about the commstment of our society to dustnal machmery and the generauon of ments, taken tog 1er, are indusive of the human life as intnnsically valuable, reflect electnoty.

enure temtory ot' normauve ethics, and it for a moment on the deep concern of this If safety and human life are not absolute can be shown that eacn has a role m any nanon for the lives of Amencan etizens be-salues,is there any value that is? If there is, adequate assessment of the ethicalissues in ing held hostage in Iran. Or consider the it would have to be an inclusive value, one nuclear power. Nevertheless, I cannot hope willingness of Amencans and others to do in the commitment to w hich we are thereby m this bnef essay to cover eacn of these all that we reasonably can to try to make committed to all other true values. I can c'ements m all the wsys it bears upon the food avaalable to hundreds of thousands of think of only one candidate that might moral assessment of the development of Cambodians threatened wnh death by star.

have a legitimate clazm to be an inctusase nuclear power in our socety. I shall be con-vanon, even if our efforts serve no other value, and thus absolute. That is the Icve of tent to address some major features of end than that nmply of the saving of God. In lovmg God we presumably love value analysis alone from the larger ethical human life.

everything worthwhile in His creauen. All terram of nuclear power.

Nevertheless, we must ask whether deep other values, including safety and human In carrymg out this limited agenda, I within the moral roots of our cvilizauon life, are relauve, however important they shall also take a part2cular moral position we have held, and do !iold today, that may be. Thes they someumes conflict with on nuclear power. This postuon is one of either the instrumental value of safety or other salues. And when they do, each one, qualified support for the increased deploy-the intrinsic value of human life is an ab-including even as mtrmsic or end value ment of nuclear power reactors m our so-solute value. Is either a value that takes such as human life, must be assessed m cety, at least for the next 20 years. This precedence over every other value, a value terms of its importance relauve to other posinon of qualified support is the one I for the sake of which we would sacnfice values. Not to do so is to sbsoluuze w hat is have come to believe from some years of any other value that comes irito conflict relauve, which as a serious moral nustake.

study of the issues to be the best position to with it? The answ er, I think, is no. And the From a religious pomt of view, it is take from the ethical point of view. And I evidence is overwheimmg. Here are sorre idolatry.

shall give ethical reasons for it. Certamly, examples. We know that thousands of per-What then is the relause importance of some will disagree wnh me, but I would sull sons will die this year because of agarette safety in the nuclear generauon of elec-hope that this essay would be useful to smoking, and yet our concem for human tricity? This depends upon what other them by contnbuting to an understanding safety and respect for human life do not values are also at stake. One way of an-of what is involved m thinking ethically lead us to prohibit the sale and consump-swenna this is to consider, along with safe-about nuclear power, including the taking non of cigarettes. Why? Because we also ty, ar.other instrumental value assocated of a moral position-pro or con-on the value human autonomy, the princple that with sudear power, and to ask what mtnn.

deployment of nudear power.

persons should have freedom w hen its exer-sic values it serves. This other mstrumental ase does not harm others to plan their own value i have in mmd is the mamtenance of I

lises and to take the consequences for their the mdustnal base of our socety. The own decsions. We know that by invesung operation and healthy development of our Let us begm w th values and disvalues, considerably more money m the design and industnal base obviously requires a very which you will recall pertam to objects or contruction of highways we could improve considerable amount of electnoty, and nu-states of affairs so far as they are con-udered to be good or bad. The value

.Does anyone doubt that without a healthy around which so much of the debate over

, dustr,al base we would not be able to defend in i

nudear power centers is safety. we a e au concerned about how safe nuc! car reactors our liberties, and contribute to the defense and their fuel cydes are because we value of other nations... ? Second, there.is safety. But what kind of value is safety? ;;

an intnnue good, that is, something good humanitarian assistance to,,, the third world' in itself and nor merely as a means to some AmencatSeptember 6. I930 C

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l cessmg. Regarding the first of these, the

,Our Western civilization has never absolutized renowmg quescons of raci need to be ad-safety over all other values, and does not do so drud.1) How much eiectncity wd! be needed annually in the next 20 to 40 years?

today.in nonnuclear matters, for example..ts

) what,ner,y mu,c,, (nuci,,,, coni, in i tolerance of cigarettes.... If the relative value solar. ec.) can be madovai!=* f= pro-viding the needed electnoty? 3) What is the of safety. to make a serious claim to pn.ority is reauve saray of the sources mas can be over... our industrial base, then it must be able made avadable? 4) what prospects are

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to point to the realistic possibility of catastrophe' eiectnci y,.

clear energy is one of the sources avadable ual to their actuahzation is thereby also Here are bnef answers to each of these for providing it. Indeed with the phasms weghty. !ndeed, out industrial base is so questions.1. We now use in America ap-out of gas and od, it may be one of ordy important that any impairment of it, from proximately 79 quadn!hcn B.T.U's (or two sources-the other beng coal-avail-whatever cause, could be catastrophic to quads) of energy each gar. About 36 per-able to us in the near future for major con-our socety and devastating to a wide range cent of this (or about 28.5 quads) is elec-tnbuuons to the supply of electncity for of intrmsic values to w hich we are comm:t-tncity. Energy use grows every year, nd our mdustnal base. We shad look into this ted. Such may be the tnie rtakes in our esumates by expens of our use by the year issue shon!y. In the meanwhile, let us ask energy controversies today.

2000 range frorn a high of 143 quads (an 81 what inmnsic valuesq depend upon Nothing I have said is intended to deny percent increase in :0 years) to a low of 85 this mdustnal b First, ere is human the very great importance of safety in our to 90 quads (only an 8 to 15 percent in-freedc,m. not ordy enca, but also producuon of elecmcity. What I have crease). The msddle ground runs some-for a itood part of the rest of the world.

• anted to make clear ts two-feld. First, the where around 115 cads ta 46 percent in.

Does anyone doubt that without a healthy ethical structure of our Western avthzauon crease). In any event, the electnoty com-industnal base we would not be able to de-has never absolutued safety over all other ponent is expected to grow much faster fend our bberties. and contnbute to the de-values, and does not do so today in non-than the other components, perhaps to as fense of other nations, from th.

nuclear matters, for example in its high as 50 percent of the total (from 36 per-sions of authontanan natio Secoro.

tolerance of cigarettes, its construction of cent), which on the midd!c range of e tergy there is numarutanan assis ce to ' ke highways or its truning cf coal. Second, if estimates would entail a doubling of elec-numeets of persons in the t!urd world in the relause vah:e of safety is to make a tncal use by the year 2000, or from about their attempts to osercome the:r poseny senous claim to pnontv over the mairt-28.5 quads to about 57 quads. There is and to achieve a reasonable level of eco-

%2ance of out industnal base, then it must some possibility of replacmg elecinoty by nomic well-bemg. Without a lively indus-be able to potnt to a reshsuc possibdity of other forms of energy. such as direct solar tnal base we would be gready impaired in catastrophe at ! cast as great as would be in-water and space heating. But there are a our abihty to prowde them w1th and and to volved if our industnal base is senously im-number of factors muitating agamst much contnbute to the development of their paired by the imposinon of safety coc-electncal reduction in this manner, the econorr the purchase of Dit prod-stramts. f t is difficult to conceive of any ac-chief of which is that heaung consututes uc*

T(ird, there is humarutanan assis-cident from nuclear power. however large only a very small part of electncal use, most

'o o 'own people living in poverty, and however improbable, that would meet of it being done by direct od, gas and coal t

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in helpmg them to achieve through our eco-t!us corMiuon. The greenhouse effect on our burrung. And it is quite likely that the net nomic system a signincant improvement in planet by carbon dioxide crrussions in the balance will move the cpposite way, that is, thett level oflidng. Would not our capacity burning of fossd fuels, such as coal and electncity picking up roies now performed to render such assistance be senously com-gas, would seem to be a more likely cands-by other forms of energy, such as would be promised if there is disrupuen and dechne date. Nevertheless, I have not shown m this involved if we were to move massively in of our mdustnal base th value analysis that nucicar power is neces-the direcuon of e!ccmc automobiles. A sustamed energy she ge? Fourth and 6, sary, or esen dest able, for the mamte-more prorrusing pouibdity in restraining nally, there are the liucal hberties 2-nance of our industrial base, but only that growin in the use of electncity is conserva-ated with the viabtL. of our * ;

.and the maintenance of our industnal base has uou, promising, that is, so far as both mag-socal msututions, and the threat to those a value pnonty over safety consideratior:s natudes and probabdines are concerned.

bberties if drastic cutbacks m the Amencan in all but the most extreme and improbable But even though every reasotiable oppor-i economy are brought about by the mal-situation.

tunity to cortserve dectricity is pursued (as functorung of our industnal base? Under surely it should be), we shall snll need to such a circumstance could our free mstitu-anticipate a very substantial increase in I

tions w,thstand, and continue to funcuon electncal use in the next couple of decades.

l anudst the social unrest and turmod that So what about nuclear power? Is it es-

2. Present energy sources of electncity would occur? Or would they be replaced by sential to our industnal base? In order to are the fo!!owmg: about 48 percent from l

the imposinon of an authontanan regime come to an informed decision on this prob.

coal.17 percent from od 13 percent from intent upon restonng order?

lem. I shall first address issues related to the nuclear. !! percent from natural gas,10 These four intnrtsic sa!ues are wetghty present generation of light-water reactors, percent frcm hydro and less than 1 percent mdeed. And any instrumer:tal value essen-and then commem on breeders and repro-from other sources. Most of the 23 percent 88 AmerrealSeptem0er 6, I980

from od and natural gas wtll probably have over every other value, it has held that safe.

from other sourcer m the same populauon.

to be replaced by the year 2000in order to ry is a very important mstrumental value, if The more recent Kemeny Comnussion Re.

avoid being held hostage to foreign ou pro.

we rank the four trajor energy sources of port saad that the adiauon tricased is ac.

ducers, or facng feroccus deficts in our cicctnoty sorordmg to their actua! track tuaUy "so smau that there wotJd be no de.

balance of payments and uncontrolled in.

records regardmg safety to human lives tectable additional cases of cancer." Dr.

fiationary fcro:s as demand increases fcr (not accordma to someoce's projections as Eugene Wigner, a Nobel Prue *mner at less and less od. And hydro will grow little, to what might happen), nudcar has been Pnnecton University, told Congress recent.

if at an, and shnnk :s a percent of total the safest, followed clowly by natural gas, ty that " coal plants put out more radia.

er,ergy employed in ciectncty producuen.

then od and finaUy twvh the worst record) actmty than Three Mde Island did."

At the same ume, the demand for electnc.

coal. It ought to be noted, however, that The most troublesome aspect of the ity may wed grow ey 100 percent by then, if the figures generaHy avadable on coal gen.

present switch from nuclear to coal genera.

the middle range esumates I have prowded cradon of electncty lump together all types don of electncity is that we may be destmed turn out to be close to correct. From w hat of coal, as weu as aH forms of coal rmrung to end up killing a good n.any more thou.

Sources can energy come m the near future and coal transportation This doca not do Sands of persons thereby than by stay.

to meet this armual increase 3 electncry justice to important differences withm the ing with a better balance of nudear and demand and to replace the contnbuuons of overaH category of coa!. generated elec.

coal. Our comtrutment to the value of od and natural gas? Perhaps a little from tncty. Nevertheless, the companson of human hfe trught be served esen better by geothermal, even less from wind power and these aggregated results is std! mstructise.

smtching out of coal bunung ahogether.

ocean gradients, and std!less from solar re.

A study by the Amencan Medical Assoca.

An interestmg addiuonal thrust on ttus ticctor sys' ems and solar photovolaue ceus.

con ruewd a year and a half ago stated problem as that Chancedor Helmut Schtrudt I should be very surpnsed if all of these and that "occupauonal and aonoccupauonal C West Germany thmks that the carbon other so<alled " soft sources" combined deaths directly related to c>al-!1 red efec.

dioxide greenhouse effect on tne earth's at.

(but not inc!udmg hydro) were to prowde :

Incal plants averaged 300 to 1,500 times mosphere by the burnmg of coal may also percent of our electncty by the year 2000.

higher than those caused by natura! gas or requi;e us to switch out of coal soon, and Nothms could be more pleasmg to me than nuclear faclities." It also held that " dis.

ba:k mto nuclear. He is quoted m Time to be wrong on this pomt, but the we:ght of abling occupauonal injunes were also far maga 2me as pomtmg to the " great danger scenufic and econorrue opuuon today pro.

more numerous for coal power plants-that if rudear energy is not developed fast vides httS reasoc for hope that I am l'6 for coal versus 13 injunes for nuclear enough, wars may become possible for the

• Tong. So we are thrown back upon nu.

power m generating the elecincty 9 supply smgje reason of competition for od and clear and coal. Dere is not much else avad.

one minica person's needs." In the burn.

natural gas."

r.ble for doubting our e!ecncty by the year ing of coal to produce eleetncity, almost all

4. In the tonget te,rm (that is, beyond 2000 plus replacng the present od and nat.

estimates place the death rne from the the next 20 years) there may t e new sources ural gas contnbution to electncty produc.

emission of caremogemes at over 1,000 per of electncal energy avadable to us bevond non. There are now 72 nuclear power reac.

year, and John O' Leary, former Deputy present hght-water reactors. These new tors on 'ine, anotner 92 under construction Secretary of the Department of Energy, sources might include fusion reactors, and up to 34 in the planrung stage. But be.

says 6,000 to 50.000 each year.

breeder reactors and one or.nore fo ms of cause of long regulatory delays, the lead By contrast, there does not appear to solar energy. But it is unhkely that any new ume for budding a new oneis now about 13 have been a smgie person killed by nuclear sources that invohe !stge-scale technology years, and the cost has nsen enormously.

fission or its products through a nuclear could shorten very much the more or 'ess I

As a result, almost no new comnutments to reactor used for e!ectnary production in all established pattern of 20 years' lead-time l

new nuclear power reactors have been the reactor years of atomic power. not ordy from de pomt that the decsion is made I

made in Amenca in the last three years.

in this country but (with the possible ex.

that the technology is feasible and the l

The conclusionis c! car: We are either somg cepuen of Russia) throughout the entire budding of a demonstrator should be un.

I to have to get nuclear power back on the world. And even with the worst accdent dertaken to the pomt that producng equip.

track agam, of rely upon coal for over 90 yet in nuclear power generation-the one ment would begm to come on line. If any percent of our electricity producuon by the at Three Mile Island-the H.E.W. conclu.

of these new sources do prove successful.

/ ear 2000 (assur.ung we acually phase out sion is that of the two mdlion people who w e rrught then have the option vf begmrung od and gas generauon of electnery, and lived within 50 rmles, orJy one ;erson to phase out lignt *ater reactors. However, find no new and major sources of energy would become an added cancer death irt that decsion would han to depend upon a for near. term electncty producuon), or the future from the acadent. This contrasts relative assessment of

• hat the issues at have a 77 se tous shortage of electncty with 325.000 re sons w ho w,11 die of cancer stake we e at that om amone diffe ent

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with its consequent weakenmg of out in.

aCertainly intentional acts of human destruction I

dustnal base.

l

3. why not happdy rely on coal for the or the threat thereof through proliferat. ion preponderance or our electncry produe-and terrorism raise safety questions that deserve con? The answer, which will come as a sur.

pnse to same, is safety. Earber ! pomted Careful attention, just as much as do the safety questions of everyday operation of nuclear power out that while the ethics of our Western

$b" " Ne 'o"neNtNe"p' *o'n't reactors and of the possible accidents involving them' iu A rrenca/ September 6,1980 9

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forms of electnary producuon. Untd and 1977 asked the Internauonal Atomic Ener-to provide for breeder reactors, are France, unless w: reach that point, I beboe that it gy to make an effecuveness and safety Great Bntam, West Germany, the Soviet a going to be essennal to pursue and ex-uudy of adsanced nuclear technology 8in-Uruon, Japan, Brazd, Argenuna. India pand our commitment to the nuclear ener.

ciudmg breeders and reprocesses) and the and Pakistan. There is httle doubt that gy avadable through light water reactors.

ext;nt of the need thereof. Thas agency is other nacons ws11 follow in their path. Fur-thermore, France, which plans to prnduce

'Nothing I have said supports the judgment that 55 percent of iu sectnety through nuclear

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nuclear power itself should be absolutized either....

breeder on line, another large one sched.

If other energy resources can be developed uied to come on une in 19s:, two more m in the future that... produce an equal inm^1 $tase5 d d**doP==t 2nd ima-uons to shift the bulk of its future elec-or better promise... there.is no reason why we inety.proeucng,qu,, ment to 3recem.

should not proceed to phase out nuclear fission' The Sosin Umon also has a breeder on line and is rapidly buddmg more of them for its Not on;y is the herth of our mdusmal base the orgamtauon based m Vienna com-predommantly nuclear energy future, not at stake, but an mdustnal couapse would posed of 111 nation states that ras the re-cnly for electncty producuon but a!so for do.treparable damage to the intrmsic sponsabdity, among other', of carr>1ng out the u;ect heanns of homes and industnal sa!ues of human freedom and humam-the inspections of nuclear power and re-buudings. Bntam too has a breeder on kne.

tanan assatance. It :s m this sense, then, search facdines in member states required There seems httle reason to doubt that, that I am a quahfied supponer of this fon'n by the safeguard provisions of the Non-with their growmg comnutment to re-of nuclear power, at least for the next 20

/rchferacon Treaty. The study was com-processmg a number of nat'ons are gettmg years.

p:eted and made public in early 19 0, and them eves m a posinon to fo!!ow France.

came to a stnkmgly different set of conclu-the Seet Uruon and Bntam into breeder sions from those that President Carter had technology.

in mmd in seekmg the study. It argued that The value logie of this development out-For a number of years a significant com-the hmited world supply of uratuum would s de the United States is apparently the ponent of the Amencan pubuc, includmg be largely depleted in a generanon or so, same that I employed in dacussmg Ught-President Carter, has bcileved that the and this would lead to a ternunation or sen-w ater reactor employment n an earber sec-development and de% ment of breeder ous construccon of nuclear power,if pres-tion of t!us paper. Essentiah it is that safe-f reactors should be asoided nut only m the ent bght water reactors are not extensively ty is a sery irnportant mstn, mental $ alue to Uruted States but also m the world at large.

supplemented by breeders and reprocess-the intnnsic value of human life itself, but Althougn some persons opposed breeder ing. Funhermore, it held that fast breeder that this value does net, eccept m pernaps reactors as part of their overall opposinon technology is preferable to the technology the most extreme of poss;ble crcum-to nuclear energy in general, others who of light-water reactors on virtually oery stances, outweigh or evc equal ;..e in-

• rre w111ing *1th proper safety arrange-

score, strumental Salue of the mamtenance or de-ments to contmue to deploy light water re-

!f this study were merely an ivory-tower velopment of these nations' industnal actors were ne ertheiess agamst the deploy-analysis, it might be pushed aside, and ef-bases upon which so much of the mtnnsic ment of breer.ier reactors. What this latter fcets renewed and expanded to oppose or values of their cultures depends. Funher-group had chietly m mmd was a new di-restnet the worldwide development and de-more, there is the bebef that the safety pro-l mension of the safety problem. For ployment of breeder reactors and of re-bl6ns raaea by reprocessms and breeder breeders require reprocessing of used fuel, processmg facdines. But in truth the study reactors can be contamed and reduced by a aruch m turn opens up new possibtliues of is altogether consistent with the dominant number of means, mcludmg the desefop-weapons probferanon by nation states and direcuen that is takmg shape throughout ment that France is pursuing of a re-of ter'onsm by sub-naconal groups. Nei-the world m matters of nuc! ear power. A proce. sed nonproliferatable nuclear fuci.

ther the ongmal fuel of lighu ater reactors tcmber of teadmg industnal nanons and it is worth asking what safety advantages ner the used fuel thereof can produce a some third world nauorts, who are without now remain in the self dent,1g restncuon nuclear explosion m their present forms.

the vast amount of energy possessed by the by the Uruted States agamst a breeder fu-Reprocessms may change that and, m so Uruted States m its coal reserves and hase ture. By den >1ng oursebes the benetits of domg, make weapons proliferation mucn only limited access to dwmdhng worldw1de breeders and reprocessing w e wn! not there.

e2 der and add new opuons for terronsm.

od and natural gas sur'pbes, hase alreadi b) reduce the asadabihty of explodable Cenamfy intenuonal acts of human de-concludid that nuclear pcr. et is asenual to plutoruum os erseas, either for weapons de-strucuon or the threat thereof through pro-their future beyond the penod their uran-velopment by nation states ci for terronst bferauon and terronsm rane safety ques-ium supply 2111 be avadable for a ruiclear actmty. We are simply somg to hav e to hve cons that deserve careful attenuon, just as matnx composed orJy of light water reac-with tha new reality, and to seek means to much as do the safety quesuons of the every-tors without reprocessing. Among the na.

make a worldwide plutotuum meiety as day aperanon of nuclear power reactors nons presently engaged m reprocessms or safe as possible. The only safety adsantage and of the possible acc: dents in obing committed to it on the basa of their nanon-to ta of not reprocetsmg spent fuelis that it them.

al mterests, e:ther m order to extend their

• til thereby be easier to deny a terronst With this m mmd, President Carter in uranium suppiy for !ight-water reactors or group operatmg in the Uruted States the On Ethical Analysis of Nuclear Pcwer", by Frecrick 5, Carney, America, 6 Septemoer 1980.

Reprinted with permission ad America Press, Inc.,106 West 56th Street, New York,

NY

10019, ccoyricht 1980 All rights reserved.

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option of umns our nuclear fuel (but a group cusht stG obtain such fust from abroad). At the same time, the United States loses thereby the toeract we have presiously had to influence int shape of nuclear power development ar.d safeguards because we wW no longer count very much as an internanonal supplier of the most-wanted nuclear technology. Wess Ger-many, France and particularly Jaren wW have the largest part of that role tu the near future, and wW surely be jomed by others.

There are, of course, two very real bene-fits to the Umted States of reprocessms.

First, it makes the disposal of spent fuel much more manageable, a conadersuon fundamental to West Germany's commit-ment to r+w.s. The total bulk of high-level waste is conaderably reduced thereby, and what is left possesses less risk of malevolent human intervenoon hw of its greatly decreased utility. Second, re-processms saves and nakes available for future use an enormous amount of energy that would otherwue be discarded. I sup-pose only the Uruted States, with its long history of energy profligacy, would sen-ously consuier "throwmg away" by far the largest part of its uranium potential-very rauch as some Arnencans used to kill buf-falo merely to take a single tenderiom steak from among all the usable meat. Yet this is one of the outcomes that the false ab-solutizing of safety as a value has led us to in Amenca.

Nothms I have said suppons the juds-ment that nuclear power itself should be absolutized either. Its value including what can be obtained by reprocessms and breeder reactors, is only a contmgent value.

If other energy resources can be developed in the future that, in combmation with the vigorous pursuit of energy conservauon, produce an equal oc better pronuse of sup-portmg our most chenshed intrinsac values while at reasonable costs reducing our problems with safety, there is no reason why we should not proceed to phase out nuclear fission for electnoty production.

Unul and unless that happens, however, I believe that moral considerations lead _to the conclusion (nst we should vigorously develop the nuclear power of both _ light.

, water at:d breeder reactorn a Fredenck S. Carney ssprofessor ofeth-ses at Perkms School of Theology South-ern Methodist Untwrsity. This arrucle is based on apaperpresented at a sympostum on errergy problems by the John L.aFarge Insnture. New York.n l

Atornec induftnal Forum. Inc.

"9]O 1

ru a. 4,+..ri.no 92

, l.,,.[*

sar rmessen eroerem Amertca/ September 6.1980 a

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