Nuclear waste issue

August 14, 2008

It always amazes me how informed people can leave out truths that are inconvenient to their biases. In all the writing pro and con on the issue of nuclear power, why is it that no one mentions the latest version of the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act? This law that has been around since 1957 places a limit on the liability that the industry has to pay in the event of an industrial accident; the federal government picks up the rest.

Why is it that no one mentions that after 51 years we still lack the technology to economically reprocess spent fuel rods, and with restrictions on travel they have to be stored on-site? And why is it that no one mentions that when a civilian reactor reaches the end of its usable life, we lack the technology to even transport it to a safe location, much less dispose of it?

We have nuclear power, but when will proponents honestly address the back-end costs with more than “someday we will have a solution”?

Stephen T. Wiley Sr.