The Dickey Bird Scientists Take Charge: Science, Policy, and the Spotted Owl

In 1992, the Forest Service adopted a new operating policy, Ecosystem Management, which minimized the agency\u27s timber production goals in favor of a more ecologically balanced view of its responsibilities. In explaining this shift, scholars have dismissed the possibility of internal reform, arguing that the Service could not change without irresistible external pressure from environmental activists and new public values supporting biodiversity. Viewing the Service\u27s shift through the lens of the spotted owl controversy, however, demonstrates the important role agency culture played in instigating bureaucratic change. The Service\u27s evolution stemmed from the rising influence of its scientists in policy formation. Their research in support of protecting the owl and the biodiversity of old-growth forests thrived in an agency that nurtured scientific independence, and it thrust them into leadership positions. Forest Service science legitimized the arguments of environmentalists and crystallized public values favoring biodiversity into a new policy

Nuclear energy in the public sphere: Anti-nuclear movements vs. industrial lobbies in Spain (1962-1979)

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11024-014-9263-0This article examines the role of the Spanish Atomic Forum as the representative of the nuclear sector in the public arena during the golden years of the nuclear power industry from the 1960s to 1970s. It focuses on the public image concerns of the Spanish nuclear lobby and the subsequent information campaigns launched during the late 1970s to counteract demonstrations by the growing and heterogeneous anti-nuclear movement. The role of advocacy of nuclear energy by the Atomic Forum was similar to that in other countries, but the situation in Spain had some distinguishing features. Anti-nuclear protest in Spain peaked in 1978 paralleling the debates of a new National Energy Plan in Congress, whose first draft had envisaged a massive nuclearization of the country. We show how the approval of the Plan in July 1979, with a significant reduction in the nuclear energy component, was influenced by the anti-nuclear protest movements in Spain. Despite the efforts of the Spanish Atomic Forum to counter its message, the anti-nuclear movement was strengthened by reactions to the Three Mile Island accident in March 1979

Stick It in L.A.! Community Control and Nuclear Power in California\u27s Central Valley

When construction plans were announced in 1973, the San Joaquin Nuclear Project (SJNP) split Wasco into two factions. Some so feared that the project would steal farmers\u27 irrigation water and destroy agriculture that they put aside their farming for a season to campaign against it and boycott supporters\u27 businesses. Eventually, much of the community united in opposition to the project and its sponsor, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Toward the end of the conflict, in 1978, there were reports of vandalism of LADWP equipment. Farmers harassed construction workers building the plant so much they could not enter local restaurants without a confrontation or feel safe leaving their vehicles unattended. If the Department of Water and Power had not canceled the plant\u27s construction, Neufeld is convinced his allies would have used violence. The farmers\u27 political campaign succeeded in shifting public opinion. In March 1978, the citizens of Kern County voted by 70 percent to reject the SJNP. It was the first time that American citizens canceled a nuclear power plant

Theoretical and experimental characterization of novel water-equivalent plastics in clinical high-energy carbon-ion beams

Water-equivalent plastics are frequently used in dosimetry for experimental simplicity. This work evaluates the water-equivalence of novel water-equivalent plastics specifically designed for light-ion beams, as well as commercially available plastics in a clinical high-energy carbon-ion beam. A plasticto- water conversion factor Hpl,w was established to derive absorbed dose to water in a water phantom from ionization chamber readings performed in a plastic phantom. Three trial plastic materials with varying atomic compositions were produced and experimentally characterized in a high-energy carbon-ion beam. Measurements were performed with a Roos ionization chamber, using a broad un-modulated beam of 11 × 11 cm2, to measure the plastic-to-water conversion factor for the novel materials. The experimental results were compared with Monte Carlo simulations. Commercially available plastics were also simulated for comparison with the plastics tested experimentally, with particular attention to the influence of nuclear interaction cross sections. The measured Hpl,w exp correction increased gradually from 0% at the surface to 0.7% at a depth near the Bragg peak for one of the plastics prepared in this work, while for the other two plastics a maximum correction of 0.8%– 1.3% was found. Average differences between experimental and numerical simulations were 0.2%. Monte Carlo results showed that for polyethylene, polystyrene, Rando phantom soft tissue and A-150, the correction increased from 0% to 2.5%–4.0% with depth, while for PMMA it increased to 2%. Water-equivalent plastics such as, Plastic Water, RMI-457, Gammex 457-CTG, WT1 and Virtual Water, gave similar results where maximum corrections were of the order of 2%. Considering the results from Monte Carlo simulations, one of the novel plastics was found to be superior in comparison with the plastic materials currently used in dosimetry, demonstrating that it is feasible to tailor plastic materials to be water-equivalent for carbon ions specifically

Evaluation of the water-equivalence of plastic materials in low- and high-energy clinical proton beams

The aim of this work was to evaluate the water-equivalence of new trial plastics designed specifically for light-ion beam dosimetry as well as commercially available plastics in clinical proton beams. The water-equivalence of materials was tested by computing a plastic-to-water conversion factor, ${{H}_{\text{pl},\text{w}}}$ . Trial materials were characterized experimentally in 60 MeV and 226 MeV un-modulated proton beams and the results were compared with Monte Carlo simulations using the FLUKA code. For the high-energy beam, a comparison between the trial plastics and various commercial plastics was also performed using FLUKA and Geant4 Monte Carlo codes. Experimental information was obtained from laterally integrated depth-dose ionization chamber measurements in water, with and without plastic slabs with variable thicknesses in front of the water phantom. Fluence correction factors, ${{k}_{\text{fl}}}$ , between water and various materials were also derived using the Monte Carlo method. For the 60 MeV proton beam, ${{H}_{\text{pl},\text{w}}}$ and ${{k}_{\text{fl}}}$ factors were within 1% from unity for all trial plastics. For the 226 MeV proton beam, experimental ${{H}_{\text{pl},\text{w}}}$ values deviated from unity by a maximum of about 1% for the three trial plastics and experimental results showed no advantage regarding which of the plastics was the most equivalent to water. Different magnitudes of corrections were found between Geant4 and FLUKA for the various materials due mainly to the use of different nonelastic nuclear data. Nevertheless, for the 226 MeV proton beam, ${{H}_{\text{pl},\text{w}}}$ correction factors were within 2% from unity for all the materials. Considering the results from the two Monte Carlo codes, PMMA and trial plastic #3 had the smallest ${{H}_{\text{pl},\text{w}}}$ values, where maximum deviations from unity were 1%, however, PMMA range differed by 16% from that of water. Overall, ${{k}_{\text{fl}}}$ factors were deviating more from unity than ${{H}_{\text{pl},\text{w}}}$ factors and could amount to a few percent for some materials