> Wouter, I don't understand the difference between naturally 
> occurring veins of radioactive ore being exposed by some 
> natural or unnatural upheaval and that same sort of exposure 
> happening to spent fuel rods. 

The amount of radiation?

The presence of substances that are not (or not in such amounta) present
in natural ores?

> Shit happens. At least with Yukka Mt. we will know were it is 

A (maybe minor) problem is the word 'we'. How long will *you* live to
make sure nothing happens to the stuff? A few hundered years ago your
nation did not even exist as anyhthing resembling the current USA.

> Why not just dilute the heck out of it and spray 
> it into the air? Or dump it in the ocean? Or, here is a 
> radical idea, put it back where we got it from in the first place?

Would be OK with me *if it was the same stuff*.

> And yes, I'm being purposely shocking and "over the top" but 

Shocking a Dutch? You must be kidding :)

> I'm hoping it makes the point: Radiation is but one of many 
> hazards that we all live with.

I could maybe halfway agree if
- you would confine the radiation to your own homegrounds
- you would confine the radiation (and pollution, etc) to your own
generation

> We have cut ourselves off from 
> an alternative source of electricity that might well be much 
> less hazardous in the long run because of an unjustified fear 
> of that one type of hazard.

I am no proponent of most alternatives. Using less energy (and less
other 'consumables') is my preferred alternative. As far as I am
concerned the oil price can't go high enough.

> How much could another nuke plant reduce my odds of lung cancer? 

I agree most anti-nuclear types concentrate too much on the reactors. It
is the waste-processing and waste-storage facilities that pose the real
thread. I don't know about USA equivalents, but you could for instance
read up on sellafield/windscale.

Wouter van Ooijen

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consultancy, development, PICmicro products
docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: www.voti.nl/hvu
 
 

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