Thread by @LunarFounder

I’ll have to disagree here. The LNT is of course not the best available model to describe the health effects radiation exposure, especially at low exposure levels. We can however not conclusively dismiss it because the data at low levels is far to noisy.
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https://twitter.com/Atomicrod/status/1464584422016102403

Beneficial effects of low levels are promising and should be studied further but we shouldn’t make policy decisions based on it just yet.

The scare of radiation has had many horrific consequences for example, as noted in the article, in the medical profession which needs to be addressed and there educating doctors about the inaccuracies in the LNT can be valuable tool.

However implementing a Non Linear Threshold model into the regulatory framework would mean that there is level below which no danger exists thus whenever there would be a choice between concentrating on site and gradually diluting into the environment below that threshold the

regulator would have to mandate the dilution. For example MSRs would then have to be run open cycle. Now we can have a discussion about whether we are confident enough that low exposure levels really have no negative impact that this would be scientifically right thing to do.

But when considering the real politics of such a decision this is obviously not the regulatory reform that we should be spending our energy on. After all even with the LNT the projected effects of low exposures are not so high that they warrant the price that we pay for it.

The real reason why the NRC forces us to pay this high price is as noted by @HopfJames that they are not forced to do a cost benefit analysis on the public’s behalf.

https://twitter.com/HopfJames/status/1464654767561461761?s=20

So to summarize yes we need regulatory reform because Millions dying for air pollution and billions living in energy poverty is not reasonable price to pay for nuclear “safety”. But abolishing the LNT would risk losing your social license, probably wouldn’t solve the problem

of over regulation and is unrealistic to achieve anyway. What is needed is forcing @NRC to take their mandate of public safety serious and stop abusing the power given to them by the American people.

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