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Abstract
This paper examines the determining role of nuclear hazards in the emergence of a new category of risks—‘global risks’. It retraces how an international structure for expertise and regulation of these risks was constructed as a result of American foreign policy, international relations in the context of the Cold War, public mobilization against nuclear weapons, criticism and demands for ‘social measures’ as well as scientific research interests and professional legitimatization. By focusing on the role of scientists in this process, this paper aims to discuss the political and social role of these regulatory activities.
Notes
[1] Krige, American Hegemony.
[2] See, for example, Kevles, The Physicists; Leslie, The Cold War; Dahan and Pestre, Les sciences pour la guerre.
[3] Kevles, Naked to the Bone; Pallardy et al., Histoire illustrée; Bordry and Boudia, Les rayons de la vie, 132.
[4] On history of radium industry, see Boudia, Marie Curie et son laboratoire; Boudia, ‘L’industrie des radioéléments,’ 102.
[5] Clark, Radium Girls.
[6] Wintz, Protective Measures; Lindell, ‘The History of Radiation Protection.’
[7] Taylor, Organization for Radiation Protection; Kaye, ‘International Recommendations,’ 358.
[8] Taylor, Organization for Radiation Protection.
[9] Taylor, The Tripartite Conferences.
[10] ICRP, ‘International Recommendations on Radiological Hazards,’ 7‐210.
[11] Taylor, The Tripartite Conferences, 6.
[12] Boyer, By the Bomb’s Early Light; Hacker, Elements of Controversy; Wittner, The Struggle Against the Bomb (Vols 1 and 2); Schubert and Lapp, Radiation; Lapp, The Voyage of Lucky Dragon.
[13] Kopp, ‘The Origins,’ 403; Hacker, Elements of Controversy; Hughes, ‘The Strath Report: Britain Confronts the H‐Bomb, 1954–1955,’ 257; Boudia, ‘Naissance, extinction et rebonds,’ 157.
[14] Carlson, Genes, Radiation, and Society.
[15] Beatty, ‘Genetics in the Atomic Age;’ Lindee, Suffering Made Real.
[16] Lewis, ‘Leukemia and Ionizing Radiation,’ 965.
[17] Kopp, ‘The Origins,’ 403.
[18] Weart, ‘Global Warming,’ 319; Bruno, ‘The Bequest of the Nuclear Battlefield,’ 237.
[19] Rainger, ‘“A Wonderful Oceanographic Tool”,’ 93; Hamblin, Oceanographers and the Cold War.
[20] Doel, ‘Constituting the Postwar Earth Sciences,’ 635.
[21] Lacassagne, ‘Exposé introductive,’ 1, 2–3.
[22] The other official committee members were: E. Rock‐Carling, J. D. Cockcroft, A. Haddow, J. F. Loutit, K. Mather, W. V. Mayneord, P. B. Medawar, E. J. Salisbury, F. G. Spear, J. R. Squire, C. M. Waddington, L. Whitby and B. W. Windeyer.
[23] Hamblin, ‘“A Dispassionate and Objective Effort”,’ 1.
[24] US National Academy of Science, Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation; Strauss, ‘Statement before the Joint Committe on Atomic Energy,’ 15 April 1955, AB16/1656, 260819, The National Archives, London.
[25] Letter from Sir Harold Caccia to Quirk, 25 April 1955, AB16/1656, 260819, The National Archives, London.
[26] US National Academy of Science, Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation; UK Medical Research Council, The Hazards to Man of Nuclear and Allied Radiations.
[27] Robin Hankey to P. H. Dean, Foreign Office, Stockholm, 31 May 1955, p 2, AB16/1656, 260819, The National Archives, London.
[28] Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War; Krige, ‘Atoms for Peace.’
[29] Letter from Foreign office to United Kingdom Delegation to United Nations, 10 August 1955, AB16/1656, 260819, The National Archives, London.
[30] United Kingdom Delegation to the United States to Foreign Office, 2 November 1955, AB16/1656, 260819, The National Archives, London.
[31] United Kingdom Delegation to the United States to Foreign Office, 4 and 5 November 1955, AB16/1656, 260819, The National Archives, London.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Text available from http://www.unscear.org (last accessed 27 July 2007).
[34] Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Peru and Sudan joined UNSCEAR in 1973 and China in 1986.
[35] 1956 and 1958. Report of the UNSCEAR, New York, United Nations, no. 16 A/5216, 1962.
[36] Letter (August or September 1955) from Bink to the Main Commission members, reproduced in Taylor, Organization for Radiation Protection, 8‐270/8‐271.
[37] Fisher, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Scheinman, The International Atomic Energy Agency; Hecht, ‘Negotiating Global Nuclearities,’ 25; Forland, ‘Negotiating Supranational Rules.’
[38] Sievert, ‘Proposal for an International Radiation Protection Research Organization,’ 24 April 1956, Gray Box 5, Special Collections, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, p. 1. Original underlining by Sievert now italics.
[39] Ibid., p. 2.
[40] Taylor to Sievert, 24 April 1958 reproduced in Taylor, Organization of Radiation Protection, 8‐464/8‐466, 8‐465
[41] Letter from Rock‐Carling to Sievert, 27 May 1958, reproduced in Taylor, Organization of Radiation Protection, 8‐468/8‐469, 8‐468.
[42] Ibid., p. 7.
[43] Letter from Taylor to Gray, 8 November 1960. Gray Box 6.
[44] Letter from Taylor to Gray, 5 December 1960. Gray Box 6.
[45] Letter from Sievert to Pearson, Stockholm, 4 May 1960, reproduced in Taylor, Organization of Radiation Protection, 9‐300/9‐301.
[46] Flüry‐Herard, ‘UNESCEAR,’ 51, 55.
[47] Bourguignon and Mercier, ‘Vers une harmonisation internationale,’ 40, 42. Contrôle is the Autorité de sÛreté nucléaire française journal.
[48] Goldschmidt, L’aventure atomique, 247
[49] Pellerin, ‘Les problèmes de santé posés,’ 533, 539.
[50] Morgan and Paterson, The Angry Genie, 116.