ABSTRACT
AEC-funded research on Radioecology was reduced significantly in the 1970s after about 15 years of intensive work. Some of the researchers turned to other topics, while a few focused on projections of environmental impacts from the “nuclear winter” that might result as the ultimate endpoint of global nuclear war. Basic Radioecology research was scaled back but continued to a lesser degree at several of the national labs that had been set up in the U.S. This situation changed dramatically in the late 1980s with nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and later at Fukushima, which were major international disasters. In response, Radioecology research has surged, especially in Europe, and new research centers have been established in several countries. The nature of research carried out in AEC-funded projects during the Cold War is contrasted with post-Cold War Radioecology research in terms of funding levels, research methods (experiments vs. monitoring) and scientific culture shifts.
