Re: Pro-nuclear researchers urge delay on Yucca Mountain

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

Oh for heaven's sake, it's not a conspiracy! And anyway, Yucca Mountain will be approved and that particular money flow will dry up.


Hoever, this points up a real problem in the United States:  not enough support for scientific research.  Agencies like DOE and EPA and NRC want to see an immediate return for their money, so the "research" they support is all directed toward some near term implementation.  We did a lot of really good and interesting studies on plutonium chemistry for the WIPP, and we were certainly sorry to see the research end, because little is known still about the behavior of Pu in saline or alkaline solution.  OK Rod, maybe you can't see why this should be done, and you think it's just "science games" and you can't see any immediate "need" and why should precious taxpayer money be spent so scientists can do research that doesn't seem to have any immediate bearing on anything, etc.   That's the current prevailing gevernment philosophy with resp-ect to physical science research.  


On a personal note:  funding for the Yucca Mountain EIS is of course over.  I was left with two very interesting probability problems, whose solution would, even if slightly, advance our knowledge.  Moreover, I would like to report our methods, which were unique, at professional meetings and in journals.  DOE of course wouldn't dream of funding the probability work, and they are not even funding writing papers (yes, it takes time) so results can be reported.


I am sure the geologists working on Yucca Mountain are cramming in as much research as they can before the funding dries up.


There is a story about Michael Faraday that bears on this.  The British PM, Sir Robert Peel, visited Faraday's lab one day and picked up a hand-cranked generator lying on a lab bench.  "What is this good for?" asked the PM.  "We haven't a use for it now, Sir Robert" Faraday replied,"but I'll wager that one day your government will tax it." 


Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com