THE earthquake and tsunami that led to the loss of all electrical power and the meltdown of reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant inevitably put nuclear energy back on the front page. It was the worst accident since Chernobyl in 1986. The early public and political backlash was predictable, but precious little commentary emerged on the vexed issue of what to do with the mass of high-level radioactive waste that presented its own threat in the unfolding disaster.
We urgently need a well-established plan for the “back end” of the nuclear fuel cycle – the spent fuel rods removed…
