The Leak: Politics, Activists, and Loss of Trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory

 In 1997, a leak of water containing radioactivity was discovered at Brookhaven National Laboratory – one of the first three US National laboratories, founded in part by Columbia University physicists. Though federal, state, and local officials declared that the leak posed no health hazard either to the lab’s employees or to the surrounding community, it triggered a media and political firestorm. The scientists who tried to explain—messaging neophytes, all— were drowned out by sensationalistic news coverage, conspiracy theories and fake facts, fear-mongering by well-intentioned but misinformed celebrities, and grandstanding by Congressmen eager to elevate their political standings. In the wake of this firestorm came a startling series of events that included the permanent closure of the lab’s research reactor -- and the termination of this safely operating, well-functioning, world-class scientific facility was a severe loss to U.S. science, and enabled European science to take the lead in important kinds of research. The firestorm even brought calls to close Brookhaven National Laboratory itself, a half-century old scientific institution whose work had garnered 4 – now 7 – Nobel prizes. A quarter of a century later, in a period of social and political uncertainty when the value and authority of science are urgently needed, it is vital to look back on this episode.
   
   In addition to showing the kinds of social and political dynamics on which U.S. science depends, The Leak is a drama with numerous plot-twists and a superb cast; actor Alec Baldwin (back when he was a real science denier, not just playing one on Saturday Night Live), supermodel Christie Brinkley, two Department of Energy secretaries, several Nobel Prize-winners, and Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown (who did not come to Brookhaven but considered setting a thriller there) appear in leading or cameo roles. But more importantly, this story turned out to be a canary in the coal mine for the science denial and disregard for facts that are rampant in America today.
   
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