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Letter to the Sunday Herald |
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Written by Steuart Campbell
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Sunday, 05 November 2006 |
Nuclear solution
WHAT makes Iain Macwhirter think that deep geological storage of
radioactive waste is not a solution, or that the Committee on
Radioactive Waste Management 'conceded' this (Comment. October 29)?
Both are untrue. Nuclear waste cannot be 'decontaminated'; it can
only be stored while the radioactivity declines to a safe level.
He should also note that the reprocessed waste produced at Sellafield
does not consist of spent fuel rods, nor will most of it stay
radioactive for 24,000 years. The most radioactive elements have a
half-life of only about 30 years. In any case, a radionuclide with a
half-life of 24,000 years is barely radioactive. Does Mr Macwhirter
understand that radioactivity declines with time? Moreover, does he
imagine that future generations will know less about all this than we
do and that they themselves will not be generating electricity from
nuclear fission?
Why does he claim that the nuclear plant at Dounreay has 'caused untold
environmental damage'? As far as I know, it has caused hardly any.
Steuart Campbell |
