Fukushima Aftermath/Jim Green

Jim Green is the national anti-nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth Australia and Australian coordinator of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative. Green is a regular media commentator on nuclear waste issues. He has an honours degree in public health and was awarded a PhD in science and technology studies for his analysis of the Lucas Heights research reactor debates.

Issues
Jim Green and Peter Karamoskos (a nuclear radiologist) say there is growing scientific confidence in the Linear no-threshold model for ionising radiation, which is supported by the 2006 report of the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation (BEIR) of the US National Academy of Sciences. The BEIR report comprehensively reviewed available data and concluded that: The balance of evidence from epidemiologic, animal and mechanistic studies tend to favour a simple proportionate relationship at low doses between radiation dose and cancer risk... The risk of cancer proceeds in a linear fashion at lower doses without a threshold and… the smallest dose has the potential to cause a small increase in risk to humans. According to Green and Karamoskos, the alternative view, that low-level radiation is harmless, is limited to a small number of scientists "whose voice is greatly amplified by the nuclear industry". In Australia, for example, "uranium mining and exploration companies such as Toro Energy, Uranium One and Heathgate Resources have sponsored speaking tours by scientists who claim that low level radiation exposure is not only harmless but actually good for you".

PhD thesis

 * (1997) "Reactors, Radioisotopes & the HIFAR Controversy" (Department of Science & Technology Studies, University of Wollongong, Australia)

Recent publications

 * (2005, September) "Nuclear Power: No Solution to Climate Change"
 * (2006) "Australia, Uranium and Nuclear Power", International Journal of Environmental Studies, 63 (6), pp 845–857 (with J. Falk and G. Mudd)
 * (2006, November 24) "No to Howard's nuclear madness", Green Left
 * (2007 August 3) "James Lovelock and the big bang", Green Left
 * (2007, November 2) "Nuclear power and water scarcity", Green Left (with Sue Wareham)
 * (2009, 25 October) Nuclear debate: A dangerous option that wont solve climate change Green Left.