Who wants nuclear waste anyway?

The Cumbria County Council has overwhelmingly rejected a plan for an underground nuclear waste facility in the county citing among other things the " unique and world-renowned landscape which needs to be cherished and protected" and fears of a loss of reputation if the area becomes known in people's conscience as a place where radioactive waste is stored underground.  Nuclear waste is a by-product of electricity generation from nuclear power station.

Environmentalists are said to be overjoyed and  very few people would fail to sympathize with the reasons stated for the objection. Now, this post is not a propaganda against nuclear power. On the contrary, I agree with the wide range of high level deliberations by experts that have concluded that nuclear power is imperative if we are to overcome the urgent global energy challenges such as decarbonisation, security of supply and reliability.

Yet one unresolved question is what to do with the nuclear waste. There is little to no evidence that cast doubt on the safety of the storage facilities, and to the best of my knowledge no precedence of malfunctioning exist. It's all about perception and Nimbyism. For the uninitiated, NIMBY stands for Not In My Backyard.  A participant on BBC Question Time suggested that no one should be coerced to accept nuclear waste if they didn't want it and that they should rather look for those who would accept it. Fair enough! However, the question remains: who wants nuclear waste in their backyard? 

The issue here is not just about nuclear power and nuclear waste; it's about our very existence which is so much dependent on our ability to harness various resources to power our lifestyles which accidentally also results in some sort of nuisance be it nuclear waste, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, flooding, land and water contamination, visual intrusion, noise and shadow flicker. This is a reminder to us all that when it comes to energy use there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that you can't have your cake and eat it.

Until we all get to the "sugarcandy mountain" of energy sources such as hydrogen and nuclear fusion, we need to constantly remind our selves that each time we flick our light switch for illumination, someone somewhere is being inconvenienced.

As someone recently tweeted:

MT: @thecurrerball Part of fracking's problem is name. Word 'fracking' sounds sinister. Rename it 'butterfly', all objections vanish #bbcqt