What is the disposal plan for the spent nuclear fuel rods -- more generally referred to as nuclear waste?
The current best thinking for what to do with the nation's substantial
inventory of nuclear waste is deep geologic sequestration. It was
originally imaged that each region of the country would have its own
repository. Here in New England a site in northern Essex County was
studied at some length by the federal government largely because it was
remote and because what locals in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom came to
feel was their lack of political influence. The site was eventually
dropped because of hydro-geologic considerations and because of
opposition from the Canadian government which did not favor a major
nuclear repository 10 miles from its border. This story pattern in
various iterations repeated all over the country. The only site that
seemed viable was Yucca Mountain located in the middle of a large
secure military test site about 100 miles north of Las Vegas.
The government spent a great deal of money exploring and developing the
Yucca Mountain site, but Congress pulled funding before the site was
completed partly because of conflicting test results but mostly because
of political opposition by concerned citizens in Nevada. Harry Reid,
(D-Nevada) and Senate Majority Leader, has vowed that Yucca Mountain
will not open. In addition, towns and cities along the transportation
routes have worried about the implications of a derailment or truck
accident resulting in a nuclear spill.
Nobody, it seems, wants to keep the stuff or have it pass through their
town. Nuclear waste is a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) problem writ
large.
In the absence of federal action it would seem we as the beneficiaries
of the electricity are the ethical holders of our fair share of the
waste. Our Valley population is about 1 percent of the state's, and
assuming we have used an average amount of electricity, our fair share
of the nuclear waste stored on site in Vernon (home of Vermont Yankee)
is about 30 containers. Are we willing to store our fair share here? If
not, where?
Since its inception more than 50 years ago the nuclear industry and
government have promised a solution to nuclear waste. They are now
asking for an additional 60 years. At what point do we simply stop
believing in their promises? This is not the behavior of responsible
adults. We would not allow our kids to act like this, and be rewarded.
Just because we want or need technology to solve a problem for us does
not mean it will or can. Technology is limited by the physical laws of
the universe. It may be that advances in technology will yield an
elegant solution, but it is not something that can be promised.
Billboard or Art?
Way back in the misty 1960s the state of Vermont passed legislation
prohibiting commercial billboards. Municipalities soon followed with
local ordinances. It was all well intended: "Vermont is too beautiful
for billboards." And now when my work takes me to other states and I
return home I am glad for it. Vermont is too beautiful for commercial
billboards.
But when is a billboard art? Where does sign end and sculpture begin?
When do our words transcend the commercial and enter the poetic? What
place, if any, do we have for public art? Who stands as its judge?
The installation at Lareau Farm is my August art. And like sometimes
happens, this art has become controversial as much for its form as its
content. My hope is that we can go from controversy to conversation
because what we need now is a long, deep and broad conversation about
the future of nuclear energy. It needs to be a conversation that is
more than just policy wonks talking with technocrats; it needs to
include people who make beds and fix cars, people who farm and cook,
people who teach and nurse and doctor, people who so often sign up and
those who more often sit out. It needs to include all of us, for this
decision is a very big deal.
If it all works out and nothing goes wrong, this period will pass and
mostly be forgotten. If, however, we are wrong, our nuclear legacy will
burden the generations to follow with economic and environmental chains
in a bitter new slavery and our judgment will be in their anguished
cries.
Schenk is the founder of American Flatbread in Waitsfield. He lives in Warren.
