Waste, both nuclear and human

My cousin Levi, a geologist, wrote me earlier this week after the Democratic debate here in Las Vegas. The not-yet-open Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is a big topic in Nevada and was discussed in the debate. All the Democratic candidates spoke out against the facility.

My response to Levi:

Scientific American had a good article awhile back (December 2005) about new nuclear fuel recycling technology that could largely solve the problem of nuclear waste. Given the likelihood of climate change, using more nuclear power seems to me to be the way to go. As one article I read observed, global warming is a problem of a far greater magnitude than that of the disposal of nuclear waste.

Yucca Mountain seems like a quaint solution... the old-fashioned mindset of just sweeping something under the rug.

Speaking of, the February Harper's Magazine has an article about sewage titled "Wasteland." Apparently America generates around 500 billion gallons of it a day, and in some cities around the country it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a rug to sweep it under! One guy interviewed for the story had sewage seeping up through his backyard because the town's sewer had filled up. Good times.