Radioactive Waste Disposal
Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sheila Kuehl says that as a society we created radioactive waste and can’t dispose of it. (“Caution Is the Right Course for Nuclear Waste Shipments,” Aug. 9) She’s almost right, but not because it is so dangerous that it can’t be disposed of safely.
Political activists and opportunistic politicians believe that it is popular to oppose nuclear power and anything radioactive. The game is to oppose any safe way to dispose of the waste. That raises costs, delays solving problems and creates frightening public images.
Her arguments are the same that have been used against Ward Valley right along. . . . However, none of them hold up against scientific facts.
The National Academy of Sciences panel rejected the far-fetched scenario that activists dreamed up about risk to the Colorado River.
California does not need new and stronger regulations as Kuehl demands. It just needs people to look at scientific facts that are sound and have been reviewed by every responsible body that we the people have set in place to protect our environment.
Its elected legislators would do well to do their homework before they write sensational articles that make bogus demands. If they honestly care about the environment or the future, they never would have opposed Ward Valley.
A. DAVID ROSSIN, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, 1986-87, Los Altos
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