No country has built an operational nuclear waste repository because of adverse public opinion each time one is proposed. There is however – per the following - broad global support for the subductive waste disposal method which is considered by many the state-of-the-art and most viable solution to the problem of nuclear waste and proliferation which was the topic of Senator McCain's speech.

The University of Utah Center for Public Policy and Administration stated in a December 12, 2005, article “Nuclear Waste Summary” “The subductive waste disposal method is the most viable means of disposing of radioactive waste. Subduction refers to a process in which one tectonic plate slides beneath another while being reabsorbed into the Earth's mantle. The Subductive Waste Disposal Method involves the formation of a radioactive waste repository in a subducting plate where the waste will be absorbed along with the plate and dispersed through the mantle. The most accessible site is on the ocean floor at a point above where subducting plates meet and, once filled, the repositories would be virtually inaccessible. This method would prevent radioactive waste from mixing with the water table, provide inaccessibility to eliminated weapons material, remove radioactive waste completely from its threatening position, and be safe for marine life."

In the December 25, 2001 Current Science article, Radioactive waste: The problem and its management, K. R. Rao declares the Subductive Waste Disposal Method "is the state-of-the-art in nuclear waste disposal technology. It is the single viable means of disposing radioactive waste that ensures non return of the relegated material to the biosphere. At the same time, it affords inaccessibility to eliminated weapons material. The principle involved is the removal of the material from the biosphere faster than it can return. It is considered that 'the safest, the most sensible, the most economical, the most stable long-term, the most environmentally benign, the most utterly obvious places to get rid of nuclear waste, high-level waste or low-level waste is in the deep oceans that cover 70% of the planet".

The subductive waste disposal method affords the cost, safety, security and non-proliferation benefits of an international repository the IAEA Director General and now Senator McCain have espoused. Unfortunately this solution has been suppressed from its inception on the fallacious grounds it is barred by international agreement.

The London Dumping Convention does not proscribed sub-seabed repositories accessed from land.

Who is pandering and who is placing the future well being of mankind at risk by the suppressing the solution to the two existential threats - proliferation and global warming - we face?

Jim Baird
Subductive Waste Disposal Method
www3.telus.net/subductionservices