THE PROBLEM OF ATOMIC WASTE
Anne and Paul Ehrlich
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Paul Ehrlich (Bing Professor of Population Studies and Professor of Biological Sciences, Stanford University) and Anne Ehrlich (Senior Research Associate, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford) are familiar names to ecologists and environmentalists everywhere. As well they should be. Because it was Paul and Anne who ? through their writing and research ? gave special meaning to the words ""population"", ""resources"", and ""environment"" in the late 1960's. (They also coined the tern coevolution, and did a lot to make ecology the household word it is today.) But while most folks are aware of the Ehrlichs' popular writing in the areas of ecology and overpopulation (most of us ? for instance ? have read Paul's book The Population Bomb) . . . far too few people, have any idea of how deeply the Ehrlichs are involved in ecological research (research of the type that tends to be published only in technical journals and college textbooks). That's why it pleases us to be able to present ? on a regular basis ? the following semi-technical column by authors/ecologists/educators Anne and Paul Ehrlich.
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by Anne and Paul Ehrlich
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Paul Ehrlich (Bing Professor of Population Studies and
Professor of Biological Sciences, Stanford University) and
Anne Ehrlich (Senior Research Associate, Department of
Biological Sciences, Stanford) are familiar names to
ecologists and environmentalists everywhere. As well they
should be. Because it was Paul and Anne who —
through their writing and research —
gave special meaning to the words "population",
"resources", and "environment" in the late 1960's. (They
also coined the tern coevolution, and did a lot to
make ecology the household word it is today.) But
while most folks are aware of the Ehrlichs' popular writing
in the areas of ecology and overpopulation (most of us
— for instance — have read Paul's
book The Population Bomb) . . . far too few
people, have any idea of how deeply the Ehrlichs are
involved in ecological research (research of the type that
tends to be published only in technical journals and
college textbooks). That's why it pleases us to be able to
present — on a regular basis —
the following semi-technical column by
authors/ecologists/educators Anne and Paul Ehrlich.
THE PROBLEM OF ATOMIC WASTE
The possibility of catastrophic nuclear power-plant
"accidents" (discussed in "Ecoscience", MOTHER NOS. 51 and
52) isn't the only reason why we—and many other
scientists—are apprehensive about the spread of
nuclear power. Perhaps an even greater danger exists in the
radioactive wastes produced within the power generators
themselves. Until a means of safely disposing of these
materials is found, the production of "no risk"
nuclear-generated electricity will be impossible.
Remember that most reactors split uranium 235 (U-235)
nuclei to produce heat energy. That heat provides steam,
which in turn spins generator turbines. However, when the
uranium atoms split they create fragments (called "fission
products"), and the waste problem begins. The fragments,
for example, contaminate the reactor's fuel rods so badly
that the rods must be replaced about once a year. (This
replacement is necessary because the fission products
"poison" the chain reaction by absorbing neutrons
without fissioning. The trapped neutrons are then
unable to sustain the "atomic" reaction.)
Furthermore, because many of these fragments remain highly
radioactive after they're formed, the fuel rods (in which
most of the fragments become embedded) are also
radioactively "hot" by the time they're removed from the
reactors. These used rods, in fact, are so radioactive that
they're normally stored at the power plants for a period of
several months . . . until some of their most dangerous
contaminants have had a chance to decay into somewhat less
harmful materials.
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