Nuclear Genies

We developed nuclear technology almost 50 years ago. Since then we have run through a cycle of trial and error to the point where now we still have no real idea how to handle nuclear materials. We make great waste. But what to do with this waste?

It was not until 1980 that we even agreed that we needed a comprehensive national plan to deal with radioactive materials. We still have no viable plan. This is a fifty-year crisis. And no one is paying attention to the new plan to reclassify weapons manufacturing waste as low- level waste. There is a profound difference between low-level and high-level waste in terms of the risks to the environment.

Low-level waste could be dangerous for as little as an hour or two, contaminated by x-rays, barium shakes, other medical procedures and proximity to high-level materials - nuclear technician's clothing, tools and stuff which never makes actual contact with high-level materials.

High-level waste consists of materials used in weapons and energy production - spent fuel, mill tailings, items that have direct contact with ore and fuel. This stuff will be lethal for thousands of years.

Perhaps this plays into the fundamentalist right wing agenda: bring about the rapture and God will deal with it. Money spent sweeping the problem under mountains and into rivers beats investment in research developing means of decontaminating and reliable isolation processes. Research costs more and ruins the profits.

Do you realize that every nuclear waste dump in the United States leaks contamination into the environment? This contamination dissipates through hundreds of thousands of square miles. Nothing stops it. Why do we put tumors into the Earth? Are we that bitter? Where's the love? It's our only home, for crying out loud! And I've got news for everyone: Jesus ain't gonna save us. Seems to me his interests are elsewhere in the Universe, because he doesn't seem to care who invokes his name around here anymore.

I digress. What I mean to convey here is the idea that hegemony keeps the ruling paradigm in power. This paradigm hurts us more every day. Why choose ignorance, blindness and destruction over enlightenment, insight and creation? Profit?

Yes, profit. Profit off the dole, really. All nuclear weapons manufactured in the US have been bought by the US Government. You and I bought them all. ALL of them. They're ours. As for energy, we pay for that, too. We pay taxes on it to fund waste disposal. Millions of dollars to dig holes and bury it. And dig it up again. And again. Reminds me of Sisyphus.

The contractors profit every time. They have limited liability when 'accidents' happen. There is no incentive to develop safe methods of handling any of the waste, because we do not fund it.

The industry would certainly lobby against it - they're likely to stay on the dole for tens of thousands of years!

So now, we're going to plane, train and automobile it all over the country and most notably through downtown Las Vegas. On the order of thousands of tons of high-level waste will be shipped through Vegas to the perceived wasteland of the Nevada desert.

Did you know Nevada is not a wasteland? There is no such thing as wasteland! Every square centimeter of the Earth's surface is as valuable as the next. We need all of it to survive. Sin City does not deserve it. Her sins are ours.

As for the classification of waste, I think it is about time to bring this whole mess to an end. We could be disruptive or we could redirect our economy to prefer sustainability. I think a little of both are warranted. Every dollar involved in nuclear technology should be nationalized and directed towards a solution to the waste crisis. All production of nuclear materials should cease and all reactors should be decommissioned until nuclear technology improves. Because at this point, it has only been proven destructive.