Guest guest Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 Bush and Putin may look to store radwaste at site of Russian nuclear catastrophe Besides the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the deadliest nuclear catastrophe in history happened ... no, not at Chernobyl, but in Chelyabinsk, Russia. In the mid-20th century, three disasters in the area spread contamination from a nuke-weapons complex, but the news was hushed up by the KGB and CIA. So what better place to store more nuclear waste? Thus seems to be the thinking of U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin as they strive to expand the use of nuclear power around the globe. To avoid messy plutonium situations á la North Korea, the Bush-Putin plan would require countries that import reactors to return spent fuel to the exporting country for reprocessing. A wee problem: Neither the U.S. nor Russia have civilian nuclear reprocessing facilities. Bush hopes to alter U.S. law to allow returned waste to go to Russia, most probably to Chelyabinsk -- where area residents are already " breathing highly radioactive air, drinking radioactive water, and burning radioactive wood in their fireplaces, " says environmental chemist Marco Kaltofen. The U.S. Congress and Russian government will have opportunities to scuttle the plan. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] straight to the source: The Nation, Mark Hertsgaard, 26 Oct 2006 As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness. William O. Douglas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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