Right now it's politically easier to build nuclear reactors to generate electricity than it is hydroelectric dams. And President Bush, given his choices for the secretaries of Energy and Interior, doesn't seem inclined to underwrite alternative power sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines. The consumption of electricity in California, a state that tends to lead the country in terms of lifestyle trends, bodes ill for the rest of the country. Demand for electricity goes up, even at increasing risk to our health, and public policy under the Republicans foolishly seeks to cope only with regulating supply, not demand. In turn, that will mean more spent fuel rods, and increased pressure for the opening of Yucca Mountain.
Nuclear waste is terror without beauty, and there's nothing sublime about it.
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