Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste

Richard Jackson Geofirma Engineering Ltd., 11 Venus Crescent, Heidelberg, Ontario N0B 2M1, Canada How is it that an advanced society like the United States can so badly mismanage the disposal of its spent-fuel nuclear waste that has accumulated since the 1960s? The answer shines from the pages of this masterly account by the former Chief of the Office of Groundwater of the U.S. Geological Survey and his spouse (Alley and Alley, 2013). Bill and Rosemarie Alley's tale of mismanagement documents how politics, litigation, and self interest can interfere with a technical task of the highest importance. Some geoscientists don't come out of this book as paragons of fair mindedness, but overall they compare fairly well with the politicians and journalists. However, this book is much more than just a simple account of the history of proposed repositories and subsequent failures, e.g., the Lyons, KS, site that had rather too many abandoned boreholes for anybody's comfort when it was considered in the late 1960s. The Alleys skillfully weave the earth sciences into the context of the search for a solution to the problem of high-level nuclear waste disposal, whether it is volcanism or hydrogeology or isotope geochemistry. For example, they consider the Federal Court order in 2004 that the safety …