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The Commom Perception
It is a common perception that the residential areas of Oak Ridge (as distinct from the DOE site facilities) are seriously polluted by radiation, heavy metals and other
exotic chemicals; unsafe for people to live in, even unsafe to visit. The perception of most residents is
quite the opposite; Oak Ridge is a clean, safe place to live and to
raise children. If all
perceptions are true, anorexics would be overweight yet they appear skinny to
others and sometimes die of malnutrition.
Perceptions may or may not be
true but they still must be dealt with. When reliable information is
available, a meaningful perception must be consistent with it.
There is a lot of environmental data
and information that indicates residential Oak Ridge is NOT contaminated in any significant
way. If the erroneous
perceptions did not dissuade persons from coming to Oak Ridge to visit or work or live, the question of their
validity would not be important. However, the future of the city, faced with DOE downsizing, is
dependent upon a factual perception of its environment for the necessary
economic growth to replace lost federal industry.
These pages and links attempt
to present a fact-based perception of Oak Ridge.
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The
Fact-based Perception
These links contain some of the
information and adaptations of documents explaining why Oak Ridge is safe. There are also contains links to other
informative pages.
Contamination in
Oak Ridge:
An
adaptation of a Nashville Rotary Club
luncheon talk
with environmental data.
Is Oak Ridge a
Safe Place to Live?: Adapted from a three-fold brochure.
Nuclear
Criticality Events in Waste Pits:
A primer on Nuclear Criticality and a review
of the persistent claims that they occurred in Oak Ridge.
The TSCA
Incinerator:
Information on the controversial TSCA
Incinerator which has been blamed for many things. Transportation hazard
rankings are included.
The ORRHES
This new ATSDR
Subcommittee is a new player on the block which may go a long ways to clarify
the perception of Oak
Ridge.
Scarboro:
Questions and Answers
Many questions have been raised about the Scarboro environment. Here are
some answers.
More to come:
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