CRITICAL MASS

critical mass, 1. in physics, a sufficient mass of a fissile material, such as uranium-235, needed to support a growing nuclear chain reaction.
2. in civics, the number of knowledgeable citizens acting together that is required to rectify long-established, harmful operations of their government; not yet attained regarding federal mismanagement of uranium mill tailings.

A fundamental problem confronting our highly compartmentalized, technology based society is how to prevent the very large and long-lasting negative impacts of some of these technologies from being imposed on society-at-large. A closely related problem is the all-to-frequent failure of media outlets either to acquire or to disseminate accurate, unbiased information. The purpose of this section is to identify and correct errors of fact.

• "Federal lawmakers urge Linde review", Tonawanda News, July 22, 2008
  The Tonawanda News repeats the oft-reported lie made by the DoE and the Army that "the [contaminated] facilities were cleaned to within radioactive guidelines in effect at [the] time."

• "Ashland Oil Bids $51,340 for Land Of AEC on River Rd.", Buffalo Evening News, April 29, 1960
  A blatant example of misinformation by the Buffalo News