502 



DEACTIVATION 



With certainty, rather than so-called "reasonable assurances" of safety in mind, 

 what must be sought is some method of deactivating radioactivity. Recycling wastes 

 by methods such as breeder reactors does not neutralize the radioactivity — in fact, 

 they produce more than they consume. Moreover, the nuclear weapons proliferation 

 aspect of breeders has resulted in a Presidential veto over use of these devices. 



Very little information on deactivation is available from some two years of 

 personal investigation into the radioactive waste problem. Transmutation is a little 

 known and strictly experimental concept, and is given only casual mention in all of 

 the literature surveyed. A discussion held with an Arizona State Senator indicated 

 that Sandia has attempted some research on a method of neutralization with no 

 known results. 



Fusion is conceivably a basic physics answer to new energy that might be applied 

 to a deactivation system. However, a breakthrough in this research is still consid- 

 ered to be decades away, if ever. Furthermore, there is apparently a monumental 

 argument raging among top nuclear physicists between Plasma Fusion and Migma 

 Fusion (June 1978, New Times magazine). 



The first method follows a process devised by the Russians, is well funded by 

 Federal millions, has only a 10 percent rate of energy return, and involves radioac- 

 tive Tritium waste products. It is not expected to yield practical results for many 

 years, although many scientists are trying. 



The second is essentially a solo effort by a brilliant but eccentric Yugoslav named 

 Maglich, who claims to have a 3 to 1 energy output to input ratio. It does not have 

 any radioactive byproducts, and involves high intensity magnetism to contain and 

 bend a beam of particles to fuse after collision. Unfortunately, full data disclosure 

 has been requested by, but refused to, an interested environmental organization. His 

 continuation is currently funded by Arab oil interests (whose efforts to monopolize 

 the world uranium market are now well known), who may wish to hedge their bets 

 on energy control. Mr. Maglich displays photos of both Tito and Carter in his office 

 just down the road from his Plasma Fusion proponents, who believe his efforts to be 

 totally in error. 



Some research has been done on utilization of the Earth's electromagnetic field as 

 an energy source and as a possible method of counteracting nuclear radioactivity. 

 Nicholas Tesla did extensive research in Earth fields to achieve wireless transmis- 

 sion of electrical power. Some mystery surrounds the exact nature of his results, if 

 any, including stories of government confiscation of his records following his death 

 in New York. Dr. Wilhelm Reich had "Orgone" theories, including a pamphlet 

 entitled "The Anti-Nuclear Radiation Effect of Cosmic Orgone Energy." He ended 

 up dying in a Federal prison after conflicts with the medical profession, and his 

 books were burned by the government. Aside from their medical validity (he 

 claimed a cure for radiation sickness), his ideas might provide some clues to radioac- 

 tive solutions. They should be reexamined in the light of today's needs, away from 

 the "witch-hunting" mood of the McCarthy era of the fifties. Patrick Flannagan, 

 another eccentric genius, has promoted the values of "pyramid power" as some new 

 energy source. All of these approaches however, have been shunned by official 

 scientific circles as impossible or simply incorrect. It is classic in science, of course, 

 for the lone wolf heretic to be proven eventually correct, only to be the founder of 

 yet another following of true believers who now profess the "new" irrefutable truth. 



Nonewithstanding current scientific resistance to what Dr. C. G. Jung called 

 "non-causal reality," new evidence is rapidly being discovered by researchers in 

 what might be termed bio-physical and Earth magnetics. It appears that the Rus- 

 sians have far surpassed this country in such efforts, although national security 

 efforts probably preclude much public information on these matters. 



In any event, hundreds of millions of our tax dollars are being expended to 

 produce deadly radioactivity, and to perpetuate the maladjustment with huge accu- 

 mulations of undisposable wastes. Surely some of the money being expended to 

 produce the problem could be used to fund a serious, objective, scientific inquiry 

 into how to clean up our nuclear pollution machines. 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



I cannot help but think of the similarity of the nuclear dilemma to the "Electra" 

 airplane problem of the late fifties. I first flew in one as a newly graduated engineer 



