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  Native American Exposure to Iodine-131 from Nuclear Weapons Testing in Nevada

  Clark University, Abel Russ, Patricia George, Robert Goble, Stefano Crema, Chunling Liu, and Dedee Sanchez

  A great deal of work has been done reconstructing doses from Nevada Test Site fallout, yet the unique exposures of Native American communities continue to be neglected. It is possible to estimate the exposures of these communities through a process of collaborative information gathering and analysis. This paper builds on a previous exercise that demonstrated the substantial doses received through the consumption of contaminated game. The updated model includes new information on the deposition of iodine-131, an assessment of the neonatal thyroid doses received through breast milk, an exploration of the effect of population mobility on dose estimates, and estimates of thyroid cancer risk. All thyroid dose estimates from the rabbit exposure pathway are comparable in magnitude to National Cancer Institute comprehensive dose estimates that assume exposure to contaminated milk from backyard cows and goats. Dose estimates from the rabbit exposure pathway are larger than estimated doses from store-bought milk by an average factor of 6. Taking historical population mobility patterns into account may result in slightly lower estimates of dose. The quantification of this exposure pathway is considered be an advance toward a more appropriate dose reconstruction for communities with diets high in wild game.

  This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

  If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu

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  Communication and participation: Why, how, when, and with whom in a SNF/HLW transportation system to address social and economic impacts

  Clark University and Seth Tuler

  Presentation on transportation systems and their ability to cause disproportionate social and economics impact to vulnerable communities.

  The available pdf file consists of presentation slides.

  This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

  If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu

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  Managing Uncertainties in Radioactive Site Clean-ups

  Clark University, Robert Goble, Abel Russ, Octavia Taylor, and Seth Tuler

  Our goals in this discussion derive from our belief that effective cleanups that meet broad public health and social welfare objectives are most likely to occur when there is real cooperation between the parties responsible for cleanup and the affected communities. Such cooperation at most radioactive sites of concern is extremely difficult to achieve. The technical nature and complexity of the issues is a serious barrier to communication: faced with lengthy and incomprehensible technical documents that set forth apparently arbitrary goals for cleanup, community people may well feel that the responsible parties are not addressing their principal concerns, and often enough this perception is correct (Goble 1993; Goble and Thompson 1994; Goble 1998). Furthermore, at many sites there has been a long history of mishandling of radioactive materials, of secrecy and concealment, and of exclusion of the public from decision-making processes. The legacy of fear and distrust extends in both directions: the public does not trust the technical community to protect it or even to give adequate warning of problems; the technical community expects irrational fear and unreasonable demands from the public.

  In such unpromising settings, the inevitable presence of large uncertainties can very well exacerbate failures in communication and understanding. However, this challenge to cooperation is also an opportunity for the different parties with their different perspectives to make the effort to develop shared understandings and to cooperate on appropriate plans for addressing uncertainty. Our intent is to offer pointers toward cooperation that will be useful both to members of the technical communities involved in cleanup planning and implementation and to concerned members of the public.

  This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

  If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu

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  Health Risks of Ionizing Radiation: An Overview of Epidemiological Studies

  Clark University, Abel Russ, Casey Burns, Seth Tuler, and Octavia Taylor

  A Report by the Community-Based Hazard Management Program, George Perkins Marsh Institute, Clark University.

  The health risks of exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation are disputed within the scientific community. Risks associated with exposure to high levels of radiation are widely accepted and well documented based primarily on the studies of the atomic bomb survivors in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Some feel that the best way to estimate risk for low- level exposures is to extrapolate from higher doses, although there is some clear evidence of low-dose risk. In this overview we have attempted to give an unbiased summary of the available research with an emphasis on the lower doses. The strengths and weaknesses of the studies are explained in order to help assess the variety of sometimes conflicting evidence.

  This research was completed money allocated during Round 6 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

  If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu

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  Comments on the 2002 Risk Assessment Corporation Analysis of Risks from the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire at Los Alamos National Laboratory

  Clark University and Abel Russ

  The Risk Assessment Corporation (RAC) report reviewed here was intended to evaluate the potential health risks associated with the burning of a part of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) during a wildfire in May of 2000. The authors presented a methodical approach that divided the problem into several components; contaminants were assessed according to their hazardous characteristics (radiological or chemical) and according to the two major pathways of exposure (air and water). Risks were estimated using measured concentrations of contamination where it was judged to be reasonable and using modeled concentrations of contamination where it was judged to be necessary.

  This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

  If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu