A new book by London University physical chemist Chris Busby, titled The Wings of Death, shows that the natural repair mechanisms of cells are not equipped to cope with ongoing internal beta radiation exposure, even at low levels. There are bills pending in Congress that would mandate a massive shell game with nuclear waste casks. This proposal, sponsored by the nuclear utilities, would put up a waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, on Western Shoshone Land in Nevada. Yucca Mountain is under study for a geologic waste repository, and sending the waste there now would make a mockery out of any scientific basis for approving the site for a repository. In addition to the hazards posed by transporting radioactive waste across the country to storage spots, there is already ample evidence that this particular site should be disqualified based on seismic activity and the fractured condition of the rock.
Current law requires a permanent site before transfer.
In addition to the hazards posed by transporting radioactive waste across the country to a new storage site, the US taxpayer is placed in great financial risk. National and regional environmental and energy groups oppose the bills. The legislation supports the production of more nuclear waste, by creating the illusion of a solution, which would make room in full reactor storage facilities for new waste production. In a true lapse of sensibility, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole scheduled S 1271 for a Senate floor vote on April 26, the 10th anniversary of Chernobyl. Outcry from across the country resulted in a postponement of the vote.