The leak : politics, activists, and loss of trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory / Robert P. Crease and Peter D. Bond.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crease, Robert P., author.

Bond, Peter D., author.

Series:

The MIT Press

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radioactive decontamination--New York (State)--Long Island.

Radioactive decontamination.

Science and state--United States.

Science and state.

Brookhaven National Laboratory--History.

Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2022]

Summary:

How the discovery of a harmless leak of radiation sparked a media firestorm, political grandstanding, and fearmongering that closed a vital scientific facility. In 1997, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory found a small leak of radioactive water near their research reactor. Brookhaven was -- and is -- a world-class, Nobel Prize-winning lab, and its reactor was the cornerstone of US materials science and one of the world's finest research facilities. The leak, harmless to health, came from a storage pool rather than the reactor. But its discovery triggered a media and political firestorm that resulted in the reactor's shutdown, and even attempts to close the entire laboratory. A quarter century later, the episode reveals the dynamics of today's controversies in which fears and the dismissal of science disrupt serious discussion and research of vital issues such as vaccines, climate change, and toxic chemicals. This story has all the elements of a thriller, with vivid characters and dramatic twists and turns. Key players include congressmen and scientists; journalists and university presidents; actors, supermodels, and anti-nuclear activists, all interacting and teaming up in surprising ways. The authors, each with insider knowledge of and access to confidential documents and the key players, reveal how a fact of no health significance could be portrayed as a Chernobyl-like disaster. This compelling expoš reveals the gaps between scientists, politicians, media, and the public that have only gotten more dangerous since 1997. Peter Bond is a retired physicist who worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory for 43 years in a wide variety of roles, including interim laboratory director during much of the period covered by this book.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Prologue

1. The Leak Discovered

Tritium

A History of Troubled Waters

Long Island Environmental Activism: "A Contact Sport"

D'Amato and Forbes

The Department of Energy

Associated Universities, Inc.

2. Sacked

Characterizing the Plume

Grandstanding

The HFBR

Promise Delayed

Buckets, Lasers, and Floats

Drip, Drip, Drip

"We're in Trouble"

Changing Leaders

Whose Lab is it?

No Get-Well Package

Fired

3. Chaotic Summer

Mayday

The Cover of Time

Not According to Plan

Friends of Brookhaven

The Transparency Paradox

Star

Fishbowled

Weird Times

Director Search(es)

Starting the Restart

4. Blowin' in the Wind

Blindsided Again

Rallies: "Come Out and Explain Yourself!"

Rehashings

RHIC, AGS, NSLS

Another Stinging Jolt

O'Toole Departs

5. Competition for the New Contract

Contenders

Scrambling to Meet the August 28 Deadline

Scrambling to Meet the New September 8 Deadline

Scrambling to Meet the Final Deadline, September 22

Decision Process

Decision

6. End of a Turbulent Year

Contractor-Select

Alec Baldwin

Independent Reviews

HFBR and the EIS

FOB Pivots

"The Lab Represents Evil"

"Whores" and "Hollywood Rednecks"

New Year's Eve 1997 at BNL: Leak Stopped, Spent Fuel Pool Emptied, Spirits Up

7. No Respite

Contract Signing

Montel

No Cancer Cluster

Transition

Scammed

Culture Change

Newsday at BNL

Grace of God

8. Scrammed

New DOE Secretary

Stopping the Restart

Navigating by Starlight

Blindsided

Political Decision

Retrospectives

Lyle Schwartz

John H. Marburger III

John Shanklin

Tara O'Toole

Martha Krebs

Jan Schlichtmann

Peter Strugatz

Ernest Moniz

Scott Cullen

Georgia Tech Report

William D. Magwood IV.

BNL Media Relations Christmas Party 1999

Aftermath

Glossary of Acronyms

Acknowledgments

Notes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Index.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-262-37089-1

0-262-37090-5

OCLC:

1334601061