Notable Quotes, May 6, 2005

On the economics of nuclear power:

"The abiding lesson that Three Mile Island taught Wall Street was that a group of N.R.C.-licensed reactor operators, as good as any others, could turn a $2 billion asset into a $1 billion cleanup job in about 90 minutes." --Peter Bradford, former NRC member, quoted in The New York Times, May 2, 2005

On the problem of nuclear waste:

"It takes equal parts science and fantasy to envision what would be needed to guard substances that remain deadly beyond collective memory. Radionuclides such as plutonium, produced only in the last 50 years, will pose a threat to life for the next 12,000 human generations through periods of dramatic climatic and geologic changes and social and political upheaval. The level of witness and responsibility needed to safeguard these poisons through time requires a commitment unprecedented in human history." --Philip M. Klasky, "The Eagle's View of Ward Valley", Wild Earth, Spring 1994