ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part argues that present governmental structures are ill-suited to the task of risk management and discusses how the President's Commission on Three Mile Island balked at including a consultant who had publicly expressed doubts about the safety of nuclear power. It describes the need for greater attention to safety goals at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the banishment of a mindset that maintains that nuclear power is safe. The part suggests that the NRC is loosely organized and cannot effectively manage the safety of so complex and unforgiving technology as nuclear power. It reviews necessity avoids certain sensitive issues bearing on current massive federal litigation against Hooker Chemical, the company that buried most of the wastes at the Love Canal site. The part presents that the most important legacy of Love Canal concerns its implications for other hazardous waste sites.
