From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 05 2003 - 15:30:30 MST
owner-extropians@extropy.org wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 4. Februar 2003 21:45 schrieb Rafal Smigrodzki:
>> This said, I really do not think that there is any appreciable risk
>> from nuclear waste, whether in Europe or in the US. It's too easy to
>> safely bury it underground, and there it does no harm.
>
> Since I have been asked to prove my statements many times here, I
> really miss any convincing proofs that this is "safe".
### There is a large body of research related to the Yucca Mountain project,
showing that burial there is indeed safe. No convincing challenges to this
research has been ever mounted from among the competent practitioners in the
field.
--------------
>
>> The main challenges to nuclear power [...]
>> are terrorism and the fact that the peaceful nuclear
>> technologies can be easily subverted for weapon production. In the
>> long run I would support nuclear energy only the international
>> community ruthlessly destroys any regime which tries to develop it
>> without adequate precations (inspections, direct, 24/7 surveillance,
>> full transparency).
>
> ... which will probably lead to the "Atomstaat" (as the anti nuclear
> power movement here used to call it in the 80s), meaning a state so
> much driven by technological constraints, that individual rights and
> civil liberties will have to be restrained by the authorities to keep
> the risks (technological, political, criminal) under control -
> ruthlessly, as you name it - in the name of "national security" - or
> "global security".
### I doubt that having a liability insurance requirement for nuclear energy
providers, and limits on exports to countries which do not have such a
requirement, or fail to maintain basic political legitimacy standards, would
significantly impact individual rights. After all, protection of third
parties from the side-effects of some agents' activities is well-recognized
as a function of the legal system.
Rafal
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