Book Review: In Mortal Hands by Stephanie Cooke (2009)

In Mortal Hands: A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age

by Stephanie Cooke

Reviewed by Sharon and Ace Hoffman

In Mortal Hands by Stephanie Cooke (published 2009) examines the history of nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and the connection between the two.

Cooke has been reporting on nuclear energy and weapons since 1980; in this important book she delves deeply into the shady deals that led to the rise of nuclear power and the risks that had to be ignored in order to ensure its continued use in spite of all the financial, health, and/or other reasons that would have stopped any other industrial process. (And it's been another 15 years since the book came out, and three more meltdowns: By now every sane person on earth should know what a failure nuclear power is!)

In Mortal Hands was extensively researched and provides important context about how nuclear technologies are used and perceived worldwide, and thus, how we got where we are today.

Explaining how the Price-Anderson Act was pushed through Congress, Cooke points out that: “Since the early days of the Manhattan Project,...nuclear contractors such as Westinghouse and G.E. had insisted on full government liability coverage…”, and: “Some insurance executives wondered why Congress was even considering nuclear if the risks were so great.”

The result was the Price-Anderson Act (passed in 1957), which protects utilities and their insurers from all but a small fraction of total liability, and protects the government as well. It leaves the citizens to loose their homes, their belongings, and their lives.

In Mortal Hands explores incidents where safety concerns were ignored or hidden from potential victims. For example, in the wake of the partial test-ban treaty, the U.S. continued underground testing in Nevada. Cooke writes that: “In one venting episode in 1964...Seaborg [Glenn Seaborg, then chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission] believed a small amount of radioactivity had crossed into Mexico, but the planes were not allowed...to find out”. When radioactive contamination was found in U.S. milk just 10 miles from Mexico: “there is no public evidence that anything was done to prevent children from drinking the milk.”

Cooke covers many nuclear “accidents” and the associated efforts to minimize their impact on nuclear ambitions. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Sellafield (aka Windscale, in Great Britain), the near-meltdown of the Fermi I breeder reactor near Detroit, the B-52s that crashed in Spain and Greenland and many other incidents are analyzed (the book was written prior to Fukushima). In each case, there is extensive documentation of what happened versus what the public was told. The government(s) involved invariably would attempt to minimize any perceived risk from the event (if they couldn't hide it from the public completely).

The book has sections on the Cuban Missile Crisis and other Cold War conflicts between Russia and the United States. Cooke pays particular attention to the political repercussions of any attempt to limit nuclear weapons. For example: “… the limited test ban treaty...only made it through after the defense lobby extracted concessions to ensure a robust future for the vast research and development complex.”

The entire nuclear industry is a gigantic money suck, in addition to its health consequences.

In Mortal Hands focuses on the similarities and connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Cooke writes that: “The failure to adequately address the complexity of reactor operating systems in order to prevent nuclear accidents is analogous to the inability of governments and industry to prevent nuclear proliferation.” Mistakes happen, and have nearly caused nuclear war on several occasions, and have nearly caused meltdowns countless times, and, of course, were also involved in every meltdown that has already occurred.

Cooke continually points out accommodations governments made to encourage nuclear power investments: “People who genuinely worried about safety, like those who concerned themselves with proliferation, also faced formidable political and commercial obstacles. Utilities in a hurry to...maximize profits...brought pressure to bear on regulators and...safety concerns were shunted to the side.” And accidents happened.

Cooke is clear that most (if not all) of the decisions that governments have made about nuclear power are politically motivated. For example, during the 1976 U.S. presidential election, both Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford used nuclear proliferation and its ties to nuclear power in attempts to advance their political goals. Neither even remotely suggested eliminating nuclear power.

Carter was from the nuclear navy and promoted himself as an expert, and raised many potential dangers, such as terrorists stealing plutonium. However, his proposed solution was vague: “U.S. dependence on nuclear power should be kept to the minimum necessary to meet our needs.” Ford countered by announcing a similarly incomplete ban on reprocessing: “…unless there is sound reason to conclude that the world community can effectively overcome the associated risks of proliferation.”

Of course, time has proven the risks insurmountable so far, and the threat of nuclear war (including attacks on nuclear power plants) remains. Meltdowns keep happening and close calls go largely unreported.

In Mortal Hands encapsulates decades of research and conversations Cooke personally had with participants in many different aspects of the nuclear industry, including both military and commercial applications. Reading the books now, 15 years after it was published, gives one the opportunity to see how things went so wrong in the past, and how completely nuclear power and nuclear weapons depend on each other to continue to threaten humanity.

All quotes are from In Mortal Hands. In some cases, they may reference footnotes or quotes attributed to a specific person.

###