Scientific American Article

["Jesse H. Coleman" <radshoals@airnet.net>]

RADSAFERS,

Let me call your attention to a recent article in Scientific American,
January 1998, entitled "Burial of Radioactive Waste under the Seabed".
It is written by C. D. Hollister and S. Nadis.

Hollister is a vice president of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
and a researcher in deep-sea sediments.  Nadis has been a member of
the Union of Concerned Scientists since 1977 and is described as a
researcher-writer.

The article is biased and very skillfully written.  It trashes Yucca
Mt. and the use of MOX in civilian reactors.  It insists that
radioactive material that is removed from nuclear weapons be buried
and not used in reactors.

I found much to like in the article, but much that was troubling and
I intend to write to the editor.

Interested persons should read this article.  Look for the
not-to-subtile emphasis that the disposal of high level waste has
not been researched enough and this latest "great idea" should be the
option used after more decades of delay and research (and funding
for their programs?).

The disposal method described in the article is indeed a great
idea, but we should move forward with other great ideas that are
now in progress.

Jesse Coleman