Thursday, September 6, 2007

Walt Patterson On Nuclear Energy

Born in Canada in 1936, I came to the UK in 1960, married my English wife Cleone in 1966 and have been here ever since. Trained as a nuclear physicist, I have spent my life teaching, writing and troublemaking.

My first published byline appeared in June 1970, on an article about radioactive waste. Nuclear issues thereafter took up two decades of my life. Four books, countless articles, speeches, letters and testimony rehearsed and refined the analysis. By the beginning of the 1990s I thought that rational argument and cumulative confirmation of our skeptical prognoses had finally carried the day. I was overjoyed to move on to less troubling, more positive topics.

Alas, nuclear proponents have now found a new generation of the gullible. The claims of the proponents, nevertheless, have long since been tested and found wanting. Those interested can find ample historical evidence on this website, and yet more in the Patterson Nuclear Collection.

Beginning in the 1960s I collected popular and semi-popular books on nuclear energy for more than three decades, eventually acquiring some 500 titles. I also accumulated many nuclear ephemera - brochures, posters, pamphlets, badges and other material - from nuclear issues and campaigns around the world. I was delighted when the Science Museum/Imperial College Library in London agreed to accept my collection and keep it together as what must be a unique historical resource.

If you wish to consult the Patterson Nuclear Collection, you can email
smlinfo@nmsi.ac.uk
or telephone +44 (0) 20 7942 4242.

Walt Patterson
Associate Fellow Chatham House
Little Rushmoor
High Bois Lane
Chesham Bois
Amersham Bucks HP66DQ UK
Tel +44 (0) 1494 726748
Mobile +44 (0) 7971 840036
walt@waltpatterson.org

Keeping The Lights On available from Brookings in the USA

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