Infusion Tips
The late Dick Brinckerhoff suggested the following criteria for ways to infuse societal topics into our science courses: items should be a) challenging, b) relevant, c) brief, and d) require a value judgment. Consider the following:
1. According to Andrew Lawler's report ("Test Reactor Touted for Bomb Fuel") in the 4 April 1997 issue of Science, whether to fulfill the need for tritium in nuclear weapons by a new reactor or a proton accelerator (Infusion Tip #3, Winter 1996 issue) has been complicated by a third option to solving this problem: converting the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) light water reactor mothballed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at the Hanford site in Richland, WA. It would take two years and cost $300 million, while the new reactor would cost over a billion dollars over 8-10 years and the accelerator would require nearly ten times that cost over an even longer time. But there are political considerations as well: South Carolina's congressional delegation is set on building the new tritium facility at the Savannah River site in their state, while neighboring Oregon is skeptical about any proposal that would add to the radioactive waste generated at Hanford. Moreover, the FFTF could -- with technological improvements -- produce no more than two thirds the annual requirement for 3 kg of tritium. Secretary of Energy is under a mandate to decide on a plan this year to produce tritium by 2005. If you were the Secretary of Energy, what factors would weigh most heavily in your decision?
2. According to National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition" of 20 Apr 97, corporate interests have attacked government funding of research which turns up results against their interests. One example cited was the success of back surgeons in reducing the budget of the agency funding research concluding that much back surgery was unnecessary.
3. National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" of 8 May 97 cited airlines' objection to installing fire detection equipment in cargo holds which sprayed halons, given the curtailment of halon production in view of its threat to the ozone layer. Although halons are presently plentiful, how should their eventual environmental consequences be balanced against the need to avoid future crashes like that of ValuJet in Florida now?
(Editor's Note: "Morning Edition" a week later reported that the airlines had agreed to install the halon fire extinguishers in cargo holds, in spite of previous reservations about expense and use of halons. This decision came just before a Congressional hearing on the subject.)
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