INTRODUCTION

You can't see it. You can't feel it. You can't smell it. It's effects may not show up now, this decade, this generation, this century. There is no marker on any disease or damaged cell saying "I was caused by that particular exposure to radiation." Yet the radiation of our nuclear legacy will endure for millennia. Our descendants will have one question to ask of us: What did you do with the stuff?

RADIATION AND CONTAMINATION

The nuclear chain consists of human activities that begin with disturbing natural radioactive uranium deep in the earth, and includes every stage of mining, milling, transporting, enriching, fabricating, processing, and socalled disposal. Every link in this chain results in contamination of the biosphere. As wind and water, microbes, insects, seeds, birds, and other life forms move through all ecosystems (including those identified as too contaminated to be inhabitable by humans), unconfined radioactivity eventually disperses through the biosphere worldwide.

What is Radioactive element

An element is radioactive when it has an unstable

nucleus that spontaneously releases energy (or decays).

The particles emitted in the process, in the form of alpha

or beta particles, neutrons, and gamma rays, affect other atoms, causing them to become unstable emitters of radioactivity themselves, with the potential to contaminate whatever they are near.

BIOMEDICAL EFFECTS

The greatest threat of radioactivity to life as we know it is damage to the gene pool, the genetic make-up of all living species. Genetic damage from radiation exposure is cumulative over lifetimes and generations. Some biomedical effects of radiation are well known. If the exposure is great enough, as it was for 200,000 people in Japan in 1945 and for the clean-up crew in Chernobyl, death can occur immediately or within days.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE

An aspect of nuclear pollution that has not been widely discussed is the psychological damage to the world's population, collectively and individually. Knowing that, because of the presence of nuclear materials, our planet, our home, our selves could be irreparably destroyed at any moment, impairs our ability to engage in meaningful, successful, protective strategies (Litton 1979; Eriksson 1994).

PROBLEMATIC "SOLUTIONS"

Humanity's vast body of scientific knowledge pales before the challenge of isolating nuclear waste until it is harmless eons hence. For less than a century scientists have been exploring the nature of the atom and radioactivity, and during only a fraction of that time have they begun to consider how to protect life from its harm.

WHY CONTINUE PRODUCTION?

There is no solution. It is not known how to detoxify a radioactive particle, except by letting it spend itself through time, during which it will continue to contaminate and damage all life forms with which it comes in contact. How, then, shall we proceed?

NUCLEAR GUARDIANSHIP

Nuclear Guardianship is a citizen commitment to present and future generations to keep radioactive materials out of the biosphere. Recognizing the extreme damage these materials inflict on all life-forms and their genetic codes, Nuclear Guardianship requires Interim containment of radioactive materials in accessible, monitored storage, so that leaks can be repaired, and future technologies for reducing and containing their radioactivity can be applied; Stringent limits on transport of radioactive materials, to avoid contaminating new sites, and to minimize spills and accidents; Cessation of the production of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy; and Transmission to future generations of the knowledge necessary for their self-protection and the ongoing guardianship through time (Nuclear Guardianship Project 1992).

OVERCOMING DENIAL

A number of activities around the world are moving toward overcoming the denial that has surrounded the nuclear legacy and our responsibility for it. Some that include education and organizing for specific changes are the Nuclear Free Zone movement, Abolition 2000, the Campaign for a Plutonium Free World, and the successful World Court Project.

EDUCATION

The general public has been woefully uninformed about radioactive materials, their biomedical effects, whether they can be safely stored, transported or used, and where the materials are located. Research is conducted primarily by vested interests within the nuclear industry, with little information made available to the public. Moreover, information has been hidden by governments in the name of "national security." As citizens inform themselves, they will influence their governments to pass legislation limiting production and transportation and safeguarding already produced radioactive materials.

ROLE OF PEOPLES

People have the right to know about the slow, cumulative poisoning that is taking place in us all, and also to information about ways we can protect ourselves. There is no solution, but there is information about what makes cells less, or more, vulnerable, to radiation damage (Lee 1990; Radiation Protection Home Page 1996). Diet for the Atomic Age (Shannon 1987), for example, details and justifies human dietary recommendation to help minimize radiation absorbed and detoxify radiation poisoning (e.g., eat low on the food-chain where radiation and other toxins are less concentrated). Such knowledge may make a difference in how incapacitated we or our children become from radiation exposure.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLES

To accomplish phasing out worldwide nuclear power, while being responsive to the environmental disruption caused by continued large-scale use of fossil fuels, an intense, global response is needed, developing and using energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy sources which derive directly or indirectly from solar radiation .

PROMISING PROPOSALS

Growing numbers of non-governmental organizations are making proposals regarding the responsible care of nuclear materials (Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes, Greenpeace, Nuclear Guardianship Project, Nuclear Information and Research Service, Plutonium Free Future). They all recognize that safe storage of nuclear materials cannot be guaranteed. Even the best designed facilities will leak someday. Officials obscure that fact by proposing new sites for the waste with the implication that moving the waste will resolve the problem (Mongerson 1990).

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

It will take public opinion on a wide scale to ensure that the world's leaders act. Radiation protection has been compared to safe sex; everybody has to be an expert. "We won't solve the problem of containing radiation until its danger is universally known, like knowing that fire is hot and you ought not to put your finger in the flame or you will be burned... It has to be in our bones "(Carde 1994).

CONCLUSION

No accomplishment of our generation-no work of art or science-will matter more to posterity than the steps we take now to keep our radioactive legacy out of the biosphere. We have the technical ingenuity for nuclear guardianship; do we have the moral strength? Do we care enough for future generations? I believe we do .

REFERENCE
This document is part of the The Nuclear Guardianship Library. Library URL: www.nonukes.org/ngl.htm Document URL: www.nonukes.org/metatoc.htm Permission to reproduce granted. Please cite source as The Nuclear Guardianship Library (www.nonukes.org/ngl.htm).

GUIDANCE
MRS. CHAITALI DESHMUKH MISS VRUSHALI GADEKAR MR. GANESH USHIRE .

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