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state sent the National Guard to supplement security and the neighboring states did not. There <br /> was inconsistency across the country, which is very confusing, because it simply did not make <br /> sense why some plants needed them and others did not. I think I'm out of time. I must be. I <br /> would be happy to answer questions and discuss how the Nuclear Control Institute, my <br /> organization, believes that security should have been improved and should be improved in the <br /> future. Thanks. <br /> d. Health Impacts — Dr. Steven Wing <br /> Good evening, my name is Steve Wing. I'm at the UNC School of Public Health. <br /> I want to start out by thanking the Chatham County Commissioners, my hometown is Chatham <br /> County, the Orange County Commissioners, and NCWARN for inviting me to participate in this <br /> event. I'm really pleased to be here with everybody that's on the panel tonight. I want to begin <br /> by saying that I find it very uncomfortable to discuss the topic of terrorism at a nuclear power <br /> plant. It's just something that we do not want to think about. And even more than that, I guess I <br /> feel that what we should mainly be talking about if we're really responsible is preventing terrorist <br /> acts, that that's the best thing to do. Not just nuclear terrorism, but biological terrorism, use of <br /> conventional weapons, and so on, because no kind of preparedness that we could have after <br /> the fact can possibly protect us. We do not want to get sick in the first place, we do not want to <br /> have casualties in the first place. And so it is particularly uncomfortable for me because I <br /> believe that there are things we can do to prevent terrorist acts. So I do not believe that people <br /> engage in terrorism because of their race or because of their religion. That does not explain <br /> terrorism. Terrorism occurs because of really deep frustrations and problems that people have, <br /> and basically they are related to injustices that are occurring around the world and that, as the <br /> richest country in the world, we have a responsibility to try and prevent terrorist acts by <br /> promoting justice and peace (applause). I'm glad you agree. The trouble is that it would be <br /> irresponsible of us not to recognize that terrorism does occur, that there are threats of terrorism, <br /> and that we need to do something to prepare for it. So we do have to pay attention to this. I'm <br /> more comfortable with making preparations to respond, if at the same time, we as a country are <br /> doing our best to try and reduce the causes of terrorism. <br /> My job tonight is to talk about radiation health effects. Dave Lochbaum gave a <br /> brief introduction talking about the idea that the primary problem in nuclear plants is with release <br /> of radioactivity and that radiation can damage cells, and at high doses can kill people. There is <br /> a spectrum of responses that occurs, and in discussion of radiation health effects, they are <br /> generally divided into two categories of effects. There are effects that occur immediately, acute <br /> effects. They begin with damage to the blood cells and the immune system, and build up to skin <br /> damage, eye damage, damage to the digestive system, the cardiovascular system, the nervous <br /> system, and so on. High dose radiation can kill very quickly. That is seldom encountered in <br /> normal situations. So most of the studies of health effects have to do with the more chronic <br /> effects that occur after a long time, meaning that you do not see the effects right away. The <br /> mainstream view now is that no level of radiation is safe. This means that even background <br /> radiation that we are all exposed to every day has some negative biological effect. And this is <br /> because even one ray of radiation, one hit, can potentially damage a part of DNA, and if repair <br /> does not occur properly, that damaged cell can reproduce. And so the kinds of effects that we <br /> are talking about have to do with, as Dave mentioned, genetic effects. If they occur in the germ <br /> line cells it can be passed on to subsequent generations. And there are also malignant effects, <br /> cancers. These are the primary effects that have been studied. There are also birth defects <br /> that occur. Another concept that I think is important is there are some populations that are more <br /> vulnerable to radiation than others. This generally includes the fetus, children, and elderly <br /> people. It parallels many other situations — infections, other kinds of physical and chemical <br /> hazards —these are the vulnerable populations. In the 1950's, the famous epidemiologist Alice <br /> Stewart from England demonstrated that the diagnostic x-rays being used in the care of <br />