Reply #54: so, when the yucca mountain repository is open

[treepig]

all the deaths caused by diesel exhaust-belching trains bringing nuclear waste to the site will be chalked up to nuclear power?

oh well, guess that's a fact of life. i can just imagine the hallaboolu if one the nuclear waste hauling trains derails (even though it's almost certain no release of dangerous material will occur). on a (very) slightly related topic, i remember hearing a story from the cold war when b-52s armed with nuclear weapons were constantly in the air over europe (so as to be ready to head to the USSR at the drop of a hat, i believe this was in the early 60's before intercontinental missile technology was judged reliable). at some point a b-52 crashed in spain, and one of the nuclear weapons was "missing" - eventually it was tracked down but it was hard to find because it landed on fire in farmland and the locals dumped a couple of truckloads of dirt on it (to put out the fire - apparently it was a fairly arid region and water was in short supply). in the end, everything worked out OK, plus i have a corny story to tell those who are terrified of transit accidents of nuclear materials (with the moral of the story being, which few people get, that they're not really that dangerous after all)