KARL GROSSMAN, kgrossman@hamptons.com,
http://www.fair.org/extra/writers/grossman.html
Grossman is the author of "The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program's Nuclear Threat To Our Planet" and is a professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury. He said today: "The Columbia tragedy comes as NASA has been moving on a vastly expanded program for the use of nuclear power in space. Dubbed Project Prometheus, it is to broaden NASA's $1 billion Nuclear Systems Initiative begun last year and include development of a nuclear-propelled rocket. Consider the consequences if a rocket powered by a nuclear reactor came down in pieces over Texas or elsewhere on earth. Indeed, in May and June, NASA intends to launch from Florida two rockets, both carrying rovers to land on Mars that are equipped with plutonium-powered heaters.... NASA's Environmental Impact Statement says for each shot 'the overall chance of any accident that releases radioactive materials to the environment is about 1 in 230.' These are high odds for catastrophe.... The Columbia disaster must show us the awful folly of this atomic space path."
http://www.fair.org/extra/writers/grossman.html
Grossman is the author of "The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program's Nuclear Threat To Our Planet" and is a professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury. He said today: "The Columbia tragedy comes as NASA has been moving on a vastly expanded program for the use of nuclear power in space. Dubbed Project Prometheus, it is to broaden NASA's $1 billion Nuclear Systems Initiative begun last year and include development of a nuclear-propelled rocket. Consider the consequences if a rocket powered by a nuclear reactor came down in pieces over Texas or elsewhere on earth. Indeed, in May and June, NASA intends to launch from Florida two rockets, both carrying rovers to land on Mars that are equipped with plutonium-powered heaters.... NASA's Environmental Impact Statement says for each shot 'the overall chance of any accident that releases radioactive materials to the environment is about 1 in 230.' These are high odds for catastrophe.... The Columbia disaster must show us the awful folly of this atomic space path."