The Problem Of Atomic Waste (Part II)

(Page 5 of 5)

January/February 1979
By Anne and Paul Ehrlich 
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Finally, techniques must be devised to dispose of the highly radioactive remains of nuclear power plants when their 20- to 40-year service lives are over ... to say nothing of the carcasses of failed reprocessing plants.

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We think that this research should go on. While nuclear fission technology is immature and incompetent today, it is not yet clear that it has no role to play in humanity's future energy plan ... and this is a subject that we'll return to in future columns.

What is clear is that there will be no future for nuclear power unless the NRC (and the rest of the nuclear establishment) changes its ways and restores a credible image, for no sane person today can accept the standard fallback position: that wastes be stored in concrete bunkers on the surface until a suitable permanent solution can be found.

After all, who in his right mind would grab an immortal tiger by the tail ... especially on the word of an incompetent liar who says that someday a way will be found to let go safely?

Details on the nuclear waste problem, radioactivity, and related subjects may be found in Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment by Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich, and John P. Holdren ($19.95 postpaid from W.H. Freeman and Co., 660 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94104), especially Chapter 8 and references cited there.

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