NUCLEAR WASTE

The myth that nuclear waste remains a threat for hundreds of millennia is exposed in Figure 5, from a World Health Organization report by Nuclear Issues 16, p 1, December 1994 available from 8 Ruvigny Mansions, Embankment, Putney, London SW15 1LE. In less than one millennium, glassified waste becomes safer than "naturally occurring radioactive minerals such as pitchblende or some uranium ores.'' This alleged threat is itself an artificial result of storing the waste in repositories in concentrated form. If radioactive waste were dissolved as water soluble compounds and then widely dispersed in the oceans, no health or other environmental risks would ever occur.

Moreover, as is shown in Figure 6, nuclear waste recycling is an even better option in the case of plutonium. World Energy Council estimates that serve as the basis of this figure from 21st Century 7, p 49, Winter 1994-1995 available from P. O. Box 16285, Washington, DC 20041, suggest that, without recycling, nuclear fuel costs may be much higher during the next century.