No country has yet been able to isolate these wastes from the environment by either man-made or natural barriers for even a fraction of their hazardous life. In the U.S. we have failed to find a way to safely store the first cup full of radioactive waste produced on April 24, 1942. All nuclear power plants are vulnerable to serious accidents that could contaminate the environment and cause serious health impacts. Last year's accident at Tokaimura in Japan was just the latest to underline the dangers of nuclear technology. Previous accidents, including those at Chernobyl in Ukraine and Three Mile Island in the United States are still negatively impacting the health of countless individuals and their environment.
Nuclear power is a world security risk adding to the threat of nuclear proliferation.
A 1000-megawatt reactor produces 40 bombs worth of plutonium per year. Handing a country a nuclear reactor is like handing it a nuclear bomb. The threat to global security posed by nuclear proliferation is equal to that of climate change. For the Kyoto Protocol to exacerbate this threat through its mechanisms would be a truly perverse and dangerous outcome to the Climate Convention negotiations and for your administration's own efforts to reduce nuclear proliferation. The nuclear fuel chain does emit significant greenhouse gases.