Enviros assure us and news media parrot their claims that plutonium is the most dangerous substance known to man. American nuclear power plants are still not permitted to recycle their high-level radioactive waste, while most countries do recycle. Recycling automatically disposes of 97% of this waste. Our bureaucrats prohibit recycling largely because of the terrible "dangers'' posed by plutonium - the most demonized material on the planet.

Of interest, therefore, is "Fifty Years of Plutonium Exposure to the Manhattan Project Plutonium Workers: An Update'' by G. L. Voelz, J. N. P. Lawrence, and E. R. Johnson, Health Physics 73, No. 4, pp 611-618 (1997). The subjects (workers at Los Alamos) received, on average, a three-fold higher exposure to plutonium than the maximum currently recommended by the National Council on Radiation Protection (0.01 Sv times age).

Standard mortality ratios of the exposed workers when compared to the general population and to unexposed contemporary Los Alamos workers were 0.43 and 0.77 respectively. In other words the number of exposed workers who have died as compared with the these two groups is less by 57% and 23%. The second comparison is especially relevant, since it avoids systematic differences in life style between Los Alamos workers and the general population.

These results are in agreement with the many other studies of nuclear workers and other groups (see previous issues of Access to Energy), which have shown that radiation exposure extends lifespan.

This issue of Access to Energy marks the completion of its 25th year of publication. The readership of Access to Energy is approximately one-third scientists and engineers and about two-thirds individuals with no formal scientific training - many of whom are, however, talented and productive self-taught technologists. While never a large circulation newsletter, readership today stands at a 25-year high - with readers of sufficient commitment that they provided, for example, nearly all of the funding for the global warming Petition Project that has now gathered the signatures of 19,000 Americans including 17,000 with degrees in science or engineering.

In partial celebration of our 25th anniversary, we are updating the CD-ROM of back issues and improving its computer interface. We expect that this fully searchable CD of all 25 years of issues will be available in the near future. (The price will be $95, but please do not order until we announce that we have the CDs ready for shipment.)

In the near future, we will be sending to all signers and supporters of the Petition Project (which includes a large percentage of the readers of Access to Energy) some information about the Science and Environmental Policy Project headed by S. Fred Singer and including the Project's anti-global warming petition entitled "The Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change.''

This is a very valuable Declaration. The more signers they obtain, the more difficult it becomes for the warmers to propagate their myths. Also, S. Fred Singer and his co-workers are very energetic opponents of the global warming myth. Their efforts have contributed quite substantially to the possibility that the global warmers will be defeated.

In Access to Energy 25, No. 11 we erroneously gave the power output of the three Palo Verde nuclear generators as 3x524 MW. The actual value is 3x1240 MW. Our comparison with the power needs of several countries which we "trusted and parroted'' from another source also is in error. Our thanks to those who pointed out this error (though you are, no doubt, part of a "vast, right wing conspiracy. . .'').

• As the countdown to the Clinton "apology'' continued, The Wall Street Journal composed a memorable suggested speech for the President. This column entitled 'Mea Culpa,' The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1998, p A18, should be read by every American. That it could be truthfully written for any federal government employee, much less the President of the United States, is truly Stark Raving Mad. (Less than 10% of the speech has to do with Monica.)
  
  
• With a river of tax money flowing to NASA, there is apparently no limit to the nonsense they are willing to provide to their benefac-tors."Greenhouse Warming Hurts Arctic Ozone'' by R. Monastersky, Science News, p 228, April 11, 1998, reports a NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies announcement that global warming is cooling the Arctic and thereby destroying ozone. Never mind that there is not a single published experimental paper that demonstrates the existence of recent "greenhouse warming.'' Theoretical (not experimentally ob-served) warmth makes cold according to their computer models.
  
  The truth is that NASA and their paymasters have invested much time and money in the ozone scare. They hope the residual public fear will help them to sell the human-caused greenhouse warming myth.
  
  
• When Glen Seaborg, two other Nobel laureates, and their group of scientists and teachers tried to give free advice to the California public schools about the teaching of science, they were rudely rejected and ridiculed. Instead, the state paid $178,000 to a group that believes educational standards must be written to make sure virtually all kids can meet them - and be entertained by the courses, too. Things like learning facts and mental arithmetic are no longer politically correct.
  Said one state "educator'' about Seaborg and his associates, "They wouldn't know a classroom if you put it in front of them.''

• Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons (1998) and available in most book stores. This time Clancy's bad guys are the population reduction enviros. Not only do the bad guys lose, but super popular Clancy's characterizations in this novel will do much to weaken their public appeal.
  
  
• "Energy and Dollar Costs of Ethanol Production with Corn'' by David Pimentel, Hubbert Center Newsletter #98/2, pp 1-7 (1998), published by the M. King Hubbert Center, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401-1887. This article documents facts concerning government-subsidized ethanol production from corn. For example, Pimentel calculates that "about 71% more energy is used to produce a gallon of ethanol than energy contained in a gallon of ethanol.'' He estimates current real cost of ethanol production as $2.52 per gallon.
  
  
• "The Green Genocide Agenda: Saving the Earth by Killing Humans'' by Alan Caruba, The DeWeese Report 4, No. 8 (1998), available from P.O. Box 40, Maplewood, NJ 07040.
  
  Caruba writes, "The notion of ridding the earth of people in order to save it is the core belief of the inner circle of those who determine national and global environmental policies.'' We tend to associate such maniacs with the historical past (even though World War II is only 50 years behind us). The fact is that they are here today with an agenda that dwarfs that of their genocidal predecessors.
  
  
• Building a Better Future: Contributions of Nuclear Science and Technology (1998), published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramerstrasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria.