RE: Nuclear Waste - The REAL Problem!

["Estabrooks, Bates (IHK) " <IHK@Y12.doe.gov>]

Jerry,



	Very well stated.  Your phrase "nuclear waste is not a problem to be

solved. Rather,

it is a problem to be studied" is timely and timeless.  It aptly reflects

thoughts I have held for years but could not so ably express.  It brings to

my mind an old Dilbert cartoon entitled "Analysis as a Tool to Avoid

Decisions" 



This application of never-ending study was painfully brought home to me in

my years working at WIPP, embodied in the likes of certain "stakeholder"

groups, and other, outright opponents, like the Southwest Research and

Information Center. It is a political miracle that WIPP ever began

operations.



Bates Estabrooks

Facility Safety-EUO Restart 

BWXT Y-12

9983-FS

P.O. Box 2009

Oak Ridge, TN 37831

865-574-7376

865-241-5780 (Facsimile)

ihk@y12.doe.gov <mailto:ihk@y12.doe.gov> 







	-----Original Message-----

	From:	Jerry Cohen [SMTP:jjcohen@prodigy.net]

	Sent:	Tuesday, November 27, 2001 10:24 PM

	To:	Estabrooks, Bates (IHK) ; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

	Subject:	Re: Nuclear Waste - The REAL Problem!



	    It seems that very few people understand the true nature of the

nuclear

	waste problem. By any rational assessment, nuclear waste poses NO

serious

	threat to public health & safety [If anyone is interested, I can

offer

	several technical references to support this statement].  Yet, the

specter

	of a hazard of unprecedented dimensions is firmly embedded in the

public

	mind. How did this miserable state of affairs evolve?

	    It is apparent that nuclear waste is not a problem to be solved.

Rather,

	it is a problem to be studied. Hoards of geologists, material

scientists,

	social scientists, consultants, bureaucrats, politicians, anti-nuke

	activists, and assorted consultants make a good  living by studying

the

	problem. Should the problem ever be solved, they would need to seek

	elsewhere for their livelihood. The only group that would really

benefit

	from a solution would be the general public; and who cares about

them? All

	those who are professionally involved have a strong vested interest

in

	perpetuating the  problem. Given this situation it is unlikely that

a

	solution will evolve.

	    If all this seems overly cynical, perhaps someone can offer a

better

	explanation .



	>

	> http://www.thenewrepublic.com/112601/crowley112601.html

	> <http://www.thenewrepublic.com/112601/crowley112601.html>

	

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