5. Preparing for War: NEPA

Environmental Politics and Law (EVST 255)

During this session, Professor Wargo stresses the importance of considering the persistence of pollutants in the environment. He continues the discussion of the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) risk management strategies in the wake of nuclear experiments from 1945-1963, and also introduces risk reduction strategies attempted after the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl. These strategies underestimated the persistence of radionuclides in the environment. All of these approaches took place in secret, and these proceedings were only declassified in the 1990s. Governmental secrecy in these cases prevents the public from becoming fully literate about environmental risks and from being able to challenge or test the government's narrative.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Nuclear Experimentation: Bringing the Problem Home
13:06 - Chapter 2. Compensation Schemes
20:28 - Chapter 3. The Troubling Calculus of Medical Experimentation
38:36 - Chapter 4. Key Lessons Thus Far
49:41 - Chapter 5. Concluding Thoughts

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.