As Chris McGuinness wrote in “Wasted forever,” July 7, tons and tons of extremely radioactive nuclear waste will remain right here on our coast for an insanely long time. What the article failed to mention, however, is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the U.S. allows operators to store the nuclear waste in vulnerable and inadequate 1/2- to 5/8-inch thick canisters instead of the thick (10- to 20-foot) casks that are used in most of the rest of the world, including Japan, Germany, France, and other nations. Why? Because they’re cheaper. It’s as if the nuclear industry here were being run by Montgomery Burns of The Simpsons. Except, it’s not at all funny.
What makes it scarier is that these canisters cannot be inspected (even on the outside), repaired, maintained, or monitored prior to a radiation release. Oh, and ours happen to be getting blasts of ocean air while sitting on cement pads in a seismically active area.
— Carole Hisasue – Los Osos
— Carole Hisasue – Los Osos
— Carole Hisasue – Los Osos
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2016.
