PERCEPTION OF RADIATION RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISPOSAL OF RADIOACTIVE TRANSURANIC WASTE IN NEW MEXICO

摘要

There are many highly significant and complex factors that bear on public concern. Ionizing radiation is an extraordinarily effective tool that society is unwilling to abandon, whether for medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications, energy conversion systems for electrical power, or fundamental research. The need is not to educate the public, but to create a climate in which the public has confidence that our scientific and technical processes are open and structured, and that they fully address conflicting and adverse points of view. It is hoped that, in this way, differences between the actual risks of environmental radiation exposure and the perceived risks will converge.