RISK AND DEMOCRACY.

The health and safety risks generated by modern science and technology are extraordinarily complex. This calls for concerted effort to clarify the role of the courts in regulation of risks, such as administrative licensing of nuclear power plants. The judicial perspective has significant consequences for engineers and the many other experts who contribute to public decisions about risks, such as licensing a nuclear power plant. The judicial responsibility is to assure that an agency's decision making is thorough and within the bounds of reason. Only if the decision makers disclose assumptions, doubts, and points of controversy can experts in universities, government, and industry evaluate the technical bases of the administrative action. Full disclosure of the reasons for a decision is also essential to legislative and public review. Nondisclosure violates a partnership with the public that engineers have entered by ushering in a new day in technological capabilities. If technological progress is to coexist with democracy, its creators must rethink their methods and their communication with the public.