The Demon Hot Atom -- Fuel Cycle

Fuel Cycle: A cycle that ends in death.

Below are various schematic diagrams of the nuclear fuel cycle. Note that only ONE of these diagrams mentions transportation as a separate problem in the cycle. Also, note that they all end with something which, even after more than 55 years, no one knows what it will cost, where it will be, etc. etc..

In reality, all these diagrams end about .00001% of the way into the full story of the nuclear fuel cycle.

(Some colorizing has been done by this author for clarity and fun).

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-- Above image is from: The Anti-Nuclear Handbook, by Croall & Kaianders, pages 60-61, Pantheon Books, 1978.

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This drawing properly assumes that the waste will need to be guarded:

-- Above image is from: No Clear Reason: Nuclear Power Politics, Edited by the Radical Science Collective, Free Association Books, London, England, Vol. 14, page 81, 1984.

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Below is the only example this author could find where the issue of transportation is explicitly mentioned!

-- Above image is from: NO NUKES: Everyone's Guide to Nuclear Power, by Anna Gyorgy and Friends, page 45, South End Press, Massachusetts, 1979.

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This next drawing is based on a 1973 government report called WASH 1250:

-- Above image is from: Nuclear Power Plants as Weapons of the Enemy: An Unrecognized Military Peril, by Bennett Ramberg, page 2, Univ. of Calif. Press, California, 1984.

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-- Above image is from: Site Unseen: The Politics of Siting a Nuclear Waste Repository, by Gerald Jacob, page 29, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pennsylvania, 1990.

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-- Above image is from: The Nuclear Fix: A Guide to Nuclear Activities in the Third World, by Thijs de la Court, Deborah Pick, & Daniel Nordquist, page 12, World Information Service on Energy (WISE), The Netherlands, 1982.

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-- Above image is from: Nuclear Waste Primer: A Handbook for Citizens, Revised Edition, page 26, The League of Woman Voters, Lyons & Burford, New York, 1993.

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-- Above image is from: Too Hot To Handle? Social and Policy Issues in the Management of Radioactive Wastes, Edited by Charles A. Walker, Leroy C. Gould, and Edward J. Woodhouse, Yale University Press, 1983.

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-- Above image is from: The Atomic Nucleus, by M. Korsunsky (Translated from Russian by G. Yankovsky), page 352, Dover Publications, NY, 1963.

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The following version of the fuel cycle eliminates even the arrows to indicate the transportation phases. Millions of shipments, enormous risk -- unmentioned!

-- Above image is from: Nuclear Power: Both Sides: The Best Arguments For and Against the Most Controversial Technology, Edited by Michio Kaku and Jennifer Trainer, page 110, W. W. Norton & Company, NY, 1982.

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In the next image, notice that the nuclear plant is right in the middle of the city! Reprocessing makes the cycle repeat endlessly towards the upper left corner.

-- Above image is from a magazine article, unknown magazine, pages 88 - 89 (composited by this author), probably 1956. (Any help in determining the exact source of this image will be appreciated!)

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The next two images appeared opposite each other:

-- Above image is from: Understanding Radioactive Waste: Third Edition, by Raymond L. Murray, Page 72, Battelle Press, 1989.

-- Above image is from: Understanding Radioactive Waste: Third Edition, by Raymond L. Murray, Page 73, Battelle Press, 1989.

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Here is a map of the many nuclear facilities which blacken the landscape of America:

-- Above image is from: Diet for the Atomic Age, Revised Edition, by Sara Shannon, pages 30-31, Instant Improvement, Inc., 1987 (images from each page have been merged).

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