The Immediate and the Permanent

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• "Don't sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate," a wise man said. The world sleeps while flames lick at the altar of the immediate sacrificing of the well-being of 25,000 generations unborn.
• Everyday the United States accumulates six tons of nuclear waste. By 2035 the U.S. will have accumulated 105,000 metric tons.
• In 2004, the U. S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stated "Radioactive waste and its harmful consequences persist for time spans seemingly beyond human comprehension." This court ruled the waste destined for Yucca Mountain must be contained for a million years. Science has no easy answers.
• "I'd just find a rock mountain in Montana and put it in there." I heard a radio talk show host say a couple of weeks ago. "They dig up fossil bones that have been there for thousands of years. Just put it there." That's what they are trying to do at Yucca Mountain. It's not that simple.
• The trend to think that nuclear is the green option exacerbates the dirty secret---science has no complete answers. New applications for nuclear power plants are expected to increase as the price of oil skyrockets. Is increasing nuclear really the easy answer to our energy appetite?