Public Citizen | New Nuclear Power Plants = More Nuclear Waste
"A nuclear reactor generates about 22 tons of deadly high-level radioactive waste each year. There is no known way to safely dispose of this waste, which remains dangerously radioactive for tens of thousands of years. U.S. nuclear power plants have already produced nearly 50,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Managing this mounting stockpile is increasingly complex and presents many scientific, environmental, and safety problems. By 2010, the volume of nuclear waste in the U.S. is expected to exceed capacity at the controversial Yucca Mountain repository. The government has no viable plan for coping with the additional waste that new nuclear reactors would produce."
Danger for thousands of years and no viable plan....now that just sounds crazy doesn't it? Now why in the world are "we" pushing in this unsolvable and dangerous direction when there are far better and safer alternatives like solar, wind and water? You might also ask why a participant at the last democratic presidential debate was given another handpicked question to ask Hilary Clinton when she originally wanted to ask her about the Yucca Mountain repository. Just food for thought!
Meanwhile we grope over the fear of a nuclear Pakistan controlled by radical Islamic Fundamentalists, a scenario that we ourselves have in fact helped to create! We only need to turn a page in history and look to Ronald Reagan who turned a blind eye to Pakistan's nuclear weapons program shortly after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
Keeping with the tradition we should look at George H.W. Bush, who in the mid 1980's set up sales of F-16 fighters to Pakistan, essentially giving their new nuclear program the launching platform it needed to deliver payloads. We should also look at the current(and secret) nuclear weapons deal conducted by Bush Jr. and his ever loyal sidekick, Condi Rice who actually gave Pakistan more nuclear weapons, even though for decades and to date, our nation has been very worried about the stability of that country. Amy Goodman conducted an interview about this secret sale recently: "Deception: British Reporter Adrian Levy on How the United States Secretly Helped Pakistan Build Its Nuclear Arsenal" (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/19/1450222&mode=thread&tid=25) It is well worth the read! More importantly it should suggest, are we nuts?
When it comes to government expenditures of our tax dollars, everything it seems revolves around the nuclear and defense programs, things Mr. Beyster and his current replacement Mr. Dalhberg are more than familiar with and perhaps more importantly, profiting from! While Mr. Beyster began his nuclear ambitions at Los Alamos during the second world war, his successor, Mr. Dalhberg, became the VP of General Dynamics, the mother company to the Polaris sub program, or in other words, the navy's answer to moveable nuclear launching platforms.
Mr. Dalhberg currently serves on George W. Bush's Artic Research Commission! This of course is the answer to the world science conclusion that the greenhouse affect and the industrial activities of man are melting our polar ice caps. For them of course, more nuclear powerplants are the answer, as if nuclear waste isn't just as dangerous! Meanwhile 30 years of environmental protections which have been wiped off the map by Bush, still langour in obscurity.
Dalhberg began his career at Hughes Aircraft in 1967. He served as the president of the division that created weapon systems and later became president of the Sensors and Communications division. When Ratheon purchased Hughes Aircraft, he eventually became its president, overseeing operations of the defense business units. He also oversaw the production of air traffic control hardware and radar systems.
In a time of terror, huge deficits, environmental catastrophy, domestic spying, the loss of liberty and the potential to national bankruptsy, SAIC continues to win. While many of us worry about Bush concerning these matters, none of us see SAIC. Yet, when Bush is long gone, SAIC will remain. Perhaps even up till the very end when broke and without liberty, we find ourselves knee deep in nuclear contamination.
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