Monday, July 21, 2008

Those Diabolical French

clipped from online.wsj.com

Finally, the problem of radioactive waste has been absurdly
exaggerated. More than 95% of the material in a spent fuel rod can be recycled
for energy and medical isotopes.

We have a nuclear waste problem in this country because we gave
up reprocessing in the 1970s. The fear was that terrorists or foreign nationals
would steal plutonium from American reactors to build bombs. This is a bit like
worrying that terrorists will steal all the gold from Fort Knox. Other countries
have built bombs in the intervening years. They didn't need American plutonium
to do it.

Meanwhile, France has proved that reprocessing works. With a
fully developed nuclear cycle, the French now store all the waste from 30 years
of producing 75% of its electricity beneath the floor of one room at La Hague in
Normandy.