Waste and Life on the Planet
Patrick McGean
Man is the single most active producer of waste and not recycling of that waste may be our downfall especially if we consider nuclear waste in the equation. Other than our ability to read and write our production of waste is what makes us man.
As a resident of Utah and those of Nevada which many believe are not human residents these states has been deemed the perfect place to dump nuclear waste. Its waste and given some thought we should be able to recycle it not just dump it.
We have learned to recycle much of our waste, it was something else before it became waste and it can be made into a new product if we understand the basic elements utilized.
Why not nuclear waste?
Other than the waste nuclear power has some advantages. Our problem is the fear that the waste will be reprocessed into weapons grade nuclear material, i.e. plutonium. We should probably stop worrying about plutonium since we have enough to end all life on the planet 10 times over.
Basic science appears to be lacking in this discussion since Utah and Nevada do not have any “humans.” Being not “humans” few worry about the amassed radioactive wastes that are and planned be stored in these “no mans lands” in the West.
Uranium in its natural state has less harmful radiation that its waste, even though it is one of the Actinide series of element, it exists as an element. It is a construct of hydrogen and other elements to become Uranium. If everything we know on the planet was derived from hydrogen and helium then it follows from my unscientific mind that we can figure out what to do with the waste of Uranium we use to fuel or nuclear power plants.
Yes we could just shut them all down and then the air we breathe would continue to be less and less capable of supporting all mammalian life forms. The concern over air quality is not demonstrated by our desire to destroy that which is absolutely necessary for we who breathe AIR.
Our scientific research is driven by profit, possibly we should consider who spends the money necessary for those profits. The petrochemical industry is gleeful over its windfall
profits regarding the cost of carbon based fuels. Please consider this, all the water that was, is; and all of the oxygen that was, is. When the oxygen levels decline to the point where there will be too little bio available oxygen then we as a species will cease to exist and no one will be left on Earth to shell out the money to drive the machines of commerce, only the machine will be left.
Renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal and wind will benefit from the rising cost of fuel but until we figure out what to do with nuclear waste that WASTE will be our downfall.
Our lack of basic science regarding atomic energy and nuclear waste should not be surprising since the technology was derived from the Manhattan Project to build the bomb I would think that a Manhattan type project is needed to figure out how to make the waste of atomic energy work since the Genie is not satisfied to return to the lamp. Free for 60 years we need to find out what keeps this Genie from become constipated.
The Captains of industry with their multimillion dollar yearly bonuses must not have children or grandchildren to be concerned about, or why would they continue to rape the natural resources only for the profits which can be garnered today. Our country is in its infancy, the question I pose is will it survive along with the rest of mankind considering our inability to deal with the waste of man.
http://www.nuclearwasterecycling.com/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html
http://www.maine.gov/meopa/radioactive/nuclear_safety_news.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reprocessing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
In its “Early years” “Actually, the consensus of government and business at the time was that nuclear (fission) power might eventually become merely economically competitive with conventional power sources.” This and the fear of plutonium may be the reason we never figured out what to do with the nuclear waste. Greed and fear are not part of the Constitution of the United States of America.
Basic science is not the science intended for the profits of industry but science which is dedicated to the continued existence of the planet and all of the species which inhabit it.
We study sulfur and don’t know anything about uranium save for the fact that it is an element which deserves more attention than its use for war and destruction. Like a virus we are hard pressed to destroy it therefore we need to find what will enable this element to be our friend not our long term enemy. To restate the issue, the electrons in the outer ring of uranium the element are electrons and the math of the periodic table appears to be ignored since fission and fusion have been unleashed. Maybe we should go back to the
Hydrogen atom, atomic number one to understand what we have done and how to deal with the waste which may be our downfall.
Patrick McGean
Director
Live Blood and Cellular Matrix Study
Body Human Project
The Study is not an advocate of nuclear energy but is an advocate of healthy cellular regeneration which radiation in all of its forms produces cellular degeneration. The fact remains that we have nuclear energy and must learn how to deal with its waste, or man will cease to the most active producer of waste, we will all be dead.