Re: A real solution

["ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>]

I have been involved with radioactive waste disposal, in one way or
another, since passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982.  Mined
geologic storage is an
acceptable way of dealing with radioactive waste -- I won't say "the best"
because nothing is, and I don't like the word "solution" because it implies
some kind of certainty.  I use the word "acceptable" because that is the way
one can in fact deal with waste of any sort.  Are landfills a "solution" to
municipal garbage?   Are tailings piles a "solution" to mine waste?  Would
you rather not have copper or silver so you don't need the tailings pile?
The government is doing what it can on nuclear waste in the face of the
barrage of distortions and exaggerations coming from the anti-nuclear
community -- a community that has certainly not offered any "solutions".
And let's get this straight: ceasing to produce spent nuclear fuel -- the
favorite "solution" of these groups -- does nothing about the spent fuel
that currently  exists.  I do not take "into orbit" seriously and I can't
believe, given the costs and uncertainty, that anyone else does either.  Do
you really think Yucca Mountain has more problems than rocketing spent
nuclear fuel into space?

I recognize that the burden of this particular post on the one hand
"preaches to the choir" and, on the other hand, will have absolutely no
influence on what Mr. Cohen and his and similar organizations disseminate.
I make these statements because, though they are truisms, I believe it is
better to repeat them, ad nauseam if necessary, than to remain silent.

Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Norman & Karen Cohen <norco@bellatlantic.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Monday, August 14, 2000 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: A real solution


>Hi Cousin Jerry,
>
>This is a good question and one I've thought about a lot.Looking backwards,
we
>had no business as a country allowing this much nuclear waste to be
produced
>without a plan to get rid of it. The Federal Government certainly has a
>responsibility for not following through on a solution. Nuke power
companies
>paid their money into the waste fund in good faith, and are now stuck with
>overflowing spent fuel pools.
>
>Now, bearing in mind that I'm no scientist (as has been pointed out on this
list
>and in private emails), here's my thoughts on waste. For now, I support the
>position of NIRS and Public Citizen that nuke waste stay where it is, and
that






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